


I knew you were the one, the moment I saw you!

by joe11153



Series: Life of a warrior, way of the sword, death by Love! [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Aggression, Biting, Blood and Injury, Blood and Torture, Bombs, Car Accidents, Car Chases, Caring Roronoa Zoro, Character Death, Couch Cuddles, Couch Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dirty Talk, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fights, Gen, Homosexuality, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Law is kinky, Longing, Love, Love/Hate, M/M, Mild Kink, Murder, Mystery, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, One-Sided Attraction, Panic Attacks, Physical Abuse, Romance, Scars, Self-Harm, Slang, True Love's Kiss, Violence, Zoro is cuddler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-05-05 15:33:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 309,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5380472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joe11153/pseuds/joe11153
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane Jaraquille, adoptive kid sister of Mihawk has been dating Rob Lucci who suddenly disappears from her life. She is strong and she is a field intelligence agent along with Law as medic support, Kidd as strong fighter, Ussop as sharp shooter, Vivi as analyst in her team. Shanks is the boss and trainer of them all.<br/>After the heartbreak, Law takes her to a party where she meets her long lost friend Ace and his kid brother Luffy and her life takes a new turn.<br/>Sanji loved women, he adored each and everyone them, he never wanted to get settled on one woman, he was player but he also had a different kind of relationship with Zoro he had not figured out yet. Zoro thought that he never would have these kinds of feeling towards any of the females and that he would never fall for any woman as he had already decided that Sanji was his love and has tried to get Sanji serious about him since the start though he never admitted it, never to even himself.<br/>One day he finds that he actually is falling for a girl, he never has felt like this for anybody, not even for Sanji whom he had been pursuing since school days. He thinks that she is perfect for him. What happenes when Sanji finds out that zoro is falling for a girl!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The disappearance

**Author's Note:**

> I do not Own the 'One piece' or its characters. The story, the concept and the extra characters do belong to me.
> 
> English is not my mother tongue, so wont be writing as a native....
> 
> ...and.....  
> I know the fic needs editing! Help is welcome...  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane Loves Lucci, Lucci loves Jane, they have been dating for 6 years, they are high school lovers, they have a spicy chemistry.  
> But suddenly, while Jane is away from the city for her work, he starts behaving differently. When she comes back to the city, she meets Zoro and Sanji before confronting Lucci. 
> 
> Lucci suddenly breaks up with her without giving a proper reason. She does not take that well and blacks out in famous the Baratie restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight Lucci/OC Jane.  
> Implied Zoro/Sanji  
> future Mihawk/Shanks

 

The evening was chilly and windy declaring the soon to be evident arrival of winter in the Grand-line city. The city was always alive, roads always full with people whatever be the timing and the season, the atmosphere in the city always seemed so lively. Lucci was sure that he would miss the place, this city, the software company he works at, the very building he is standing outside right now and the person he is waiting to see. Its been like this, since forever, he stood waiting for her, exactly where he has been, since longer than he could remember, he would miss HER **_if_** he were a person he has become after he moved to this city, after he had Her in his life......

He stood leaning against his blue Chevrolet Corvette C6 in the well-lit, fancy parking of the ‘Hawkeye’ Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city with about 50 floors, mostly known as The Galley La Tower to most of the citizens of the Grand-line. The bottom half of the building was the company named ‘Hawkeye Security Systems’ and 'The Galley la', but the top half was ultra-luxurious apartments. The building sure was beautiful, it was a majestic glass tower like every other modern building in the city but it definitely stood out and had become a landmark, it was in fact nothing short of an insanely expensive five star hotel.

The perfect-fit tailored black suit, sleeves all rolled up to the elbows, black leather shoes and the perfect tie, Lucci always looked handsome and perfect. Girls never get tired of fan-girling over him. He was reading the article in his tab when Jane stepped out of the elevator,

Jane was about 5 feet 10 inches tall; she had a strong healthy and athletic physique, not that she had six packs or something but she definitely had well defined muscles due her heavy work out sessions, slim hips, long hands and slender fingers. She preferred casual, loose fit cloths and wore her long blond hair in pony tail. She was wearing a light blue jeans, loose white shirt and black shoes. Unlike her usual self, she had her hair in messy bun and a pencil was tucked behind her right ear. She had few of her blond locks messily hanging down on her face, which actually looked kind of adorable. She had strikingly blue eyes and they suited her so well. 

“Wow! Look at you! You don’t look like you have been working whole day. All tidy and suited up just as you looked in the morning! How do you do it? Man! I am so beat. Look at me; I look like ghost, like I haven’t had any sleep in whole week.” Jane said dropping her shoulders in defeat and gave a tired sigh while she came walking towards her boyfriend.

“What are you saying? You look perfect!” Lucci said in husky voice and by taking her hand he gently pulled her flush against his chest. She hugged him firmly and put her head on his well-toned chest covered in white shirt and the suit, taking in his earthy but spicy scent in. He was very tall, 6 feet 3 inches and quite muscular but he had a lean body. He held her firmly in a tight and warm embrace. He took out the pencil tucked behind her ear and put it inside his pocket.

“A Coffee or a Beer?” He asked in voice barely above whisper.

“Yes please, anything would do! I just need a break! I don’t wanna think about the work for at least an hour! Can you do that?” She said in low and tired voice. He hummed at her statement and gave her a kiss on head. The voice of his hum resonated through his chest into her ears earning him her smile and sigh of contentment.

“So, where are we going?” asked Jane gently pulling herself out of the hug.

“At Bob’s!!!”  He said raising his dark arched brow.

“Nice. Gimmi the keys, I like her feel no matter how many times I drive her.” She said smiling, looking at his car.

"No babe. You look tired, I will drive; if you want you can have her on our way back!" he said making soothing movements with his hands on her back.

She nodded but made a fake sad face with a childish pout. He snorted at her antics, gave her kiss on forehead and motioned her to get in the car after opening the door for her and they went to a bar.

\--------------------------------

They spent the quality time together and then had a nice date dinner at a classy hotel. After the dinner, he was driving her back to the ‘Hawkeye tower’,

“Jane, stay! Stay with me today?” Lucci asked abruptly cutting off the topic they were discussing in the middle of the conversation.

It was very rare for him to act troubled. He was usually so calm, collected. He kept his cool in every situation, even if he is fighting someone, he never acted bothered whoever he might be facing; he was crazy strong when it came to fights. He was overprotective and extremely possessive of Jane and always tended to end up fighting anybody who tried to flirt with Jane or tried to get near her or touch her. Lucci and Jane were high school lovers. She was in the same collage as he went, in the final year of graduation he ended up asking her to be his girlfriend after falling for her in the first year only as he had said while confessing his feelings to her. They were dating each other since then. Jane had also got some fighting skill lessons from him at he start. though he knew she was strong and good martial artist, he did not know how much of a good fighter Jane herself was!

After the education, he took up a job in Software company and Jane was working as an intelligence officer for a private security firm named ‘Hawkeye security Services.’ She was intelligent, brave and attractive girl. Jane felt uneasy at Lucci's out of character behavior.

“What is it Lucci? Something the matter? You have been acting like this for last two weeks. You know I am not allowed to stay at y………...” Her worried statement was cut off by Lucci’s hurried statement,

“I know. It’s just for today. I won’t ask again till the next month.” He said, eyes fixed on the road and with voice very calm. She paused for a second, looked at his face and noticed that something was off. He was clearly avoiding looking into her eyes. After few minutes the silence broke with Jane’s statement.

“Okay, I will call Shanks. But you are going to tell me what is bothering you. okay?” said Jane and Lucci nodded without meeting her gaze.

She took out her cell and dialed her boss’s number. She knew that was going to piss her elder brother off but she was sure Shanks could help her with that as he always had.

“Shanks! Hey…” she said in an uneasy voice, but before she could speak; Shanks, as clever and charming he always was, started speaking for both of them,

“Hieeeee, hello beautiful! What happened? You still out honey? You know what time is it? Oh! Let me guess you wanna stay over at Lucci’s? Right!!”

“Yeah! Please just manage this time, it’s the last one, for this month. Please just handle brother’s mood for today!”

“You got it baby. Just be careful ok. Text me if you need anything. Or you know the Red button ok??”

“Yeah! Thanks man! You are such a darling!” said Jane smiling at his worried voice.

“Enjoy Jane, Bye.”

“Bye Shanks”

\-----------------------------------------------

 

_**At Lucci’s Apartment** _

 

Lucci had a perfect Luxurious apartment home, rather a penthouse in one of the reputed glass towers in the city. Jane has loved his place with all her heart. He had the walls and his study desk, the shelf in the living, his wardrobe doors and whatnot covered with the photos of times Lucci and Jane spent together since 6 years. Jane was happy the way things were between them, only problem was the time. She had an unusual timing of the job and the odd work, given in the profession of hers was odd whereas Lucci had job where he had regular working hours. He tried very best to match up the timings so that they would be spending most of the time together when they are not working.

He parked the car, they both got out and were soon inside the elevator reaching the 9th floor, as soon as door of the elevator opened Lucci picked Jane up the bridal style and headed for his apartment door.

“Lucci, put me down. I am not going to run anywhere you know!!” She said playfully, poking his chest with her left hand as her right hand was griping him while she was being carried.

“Why don’t you reach my pocket and take out the key darling?” He said giving her a smirk.

They reached the door and she gave a sigh saying it was good that nobody was in the hallway and saw them like that. She unlocked the door, within few seconds the door was latched closed, key in her hand got dropped on the carpet and she had her back pressed against the wall and she was gently seated on a wooden surface with Lucci standing between her legs. She was pulled into a passionate kiss, her hands were pinned above her head by his left hand and other hand had slipped under her shirt and was caressing her warm tender skin of her perfect waist. She knew something like this was coming since the very moment he had picked her off her feet and she liked the way he dominated her.

She could have easily escaped if she wanted. She was strong and powerful but she liked surrendering to him. She loved his aggressive ways of showing affection, she liked feeling of being trapped under his powerful arms, she liked the dominating and demanding intimacy, she loved the way his single glance would anchor her down, she liked the way he overpowered her. She always felt herself drowned in this addiction. He also knew that doing this turns her on. He had found it out way back and to tell the truth he was very happy about it. This unusual method was so addicting that they never grew tired of it.

The kiss was passionate and heated, they soon broke for air, panting heavily both looked into each other’s eyes and Lucci smirked at her half lidded eyes.

“Lovely!” he said in husky voice and captured her lips again. He nibbled on her bottom lip demanding entrance. She denied because she wanted him to force open his way in, he too knew her desire. The warm, calloused hand on her waist now quickly slid upwards and wasting no time he cupped firmly her right boob still held in place by the bra earning a moan form her. He took the opportunity of ever so slightly parted lips and pushed his tongue inside her mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance till she gave up giving him authority to ravish her. Their hot make out session ended when their lungs screamed for oxygen.

He let go off her hands which she dropped on his shoulders and he put his face in the crook of her neck and pulled her in tight hug.

“Jane, you wanna watch a movie before going to bed? or you wanna sleep? I mean you said you were tired”

“Nah! We will watch movie, you have ice cream right?”

“Lots” he said smirking.

“Movie it is!”

They were watching movie in Lucchi’s bedroom on his big ass LCD, eating Ice cream and occasionally kissing and cuddling. It was a perfect date evening for Jane, they were in a sense a perfect couple, many girls were envious of Jane, she had a perfect boyfriend in her life.

In half way through movie, Jane indeed fell asleep in Lucci’s arms as he had predicted. He removed the ice cream tub from the bed and adjusted her position a little so that Jane would sleep comfortably. He switched off the TV and turned off the lights. He went over to Jane's sleeping frame, snuggled close to her and spooned her to get comfy against her, she moved a little and soon relaxed in her slumber.

 

\----------------------------------

 

**Lucci’s POV**

 Jane fell asleep, I knew she would. She really was so tired.

‘With her, I feel like I can have a normal life. Really now? Like I am a normal person! What am I doing here? Why I find comfort in her arms? I am a killer and may end up getting a direct order from top officials which would lead me killing her one day if I keep this up. An assassin falling in love with an intelligence agent is unheard of! Che! I had to ask her, hadn’t I? I should not have taken things so lightly. Now what! she wound me around her little finger! Tsk! So much for a perfect cover!’ I thought but it hit me that I was nosing in her hair as I kept thinking, I immediately pulled out.

'Shit! Why I do this! Why? Damn it Jane! I don't want to fail the mission!' I pulled out from her all together and turned on my back looking at the ceiling.

I closed my eyes and cursed myself more but did not feel calm enough to sleep. After sometime, I opened eyes again. My eyesight adjusted to the dark room after few minutes. Jane changed her position a little, she was on her side to face me and got closer to me as a cold breeze came through the open door to the balcony. I quickly wrapped her in my arms and pulled her close to me. ‘Shit! I forgot to close it! …but...…Why? Why I care for you? I haven't done that for anybody! But I do, about you, I can't see you getting a least bit uncomfortable.’

I wanted to get up and close the window but she was clinging on to me so perfectly, I did not want to disturb her.

“What have you done to me Jane? Why do you love me? Why in the world did you say ‘yes’ all those years back? Why do you stay with me like this?” I whispered caressing her cheek with thumb.

“Umm!!” she said pulling up blanket over her shoulder and adjusting herself as she moved to get comfy in my arms as she put her arm around me. After few moments, her breathing became regular and she was in deep slumber again. I just kept observing her, thinking about time we spent together,

'No matter how many times I see you, It's always mesmerizing to watch you sleep like this in my arms! So beautiful!' I traced her scars she got on her arms, I liked them.

“Damn it Woman! You don’t have any idea how bad person I am! I have been but deceiving you. Idiot! This man you are in love with does not exist. It is mere a cover! A fake personality! One person that I never thought that I would like to be one day. You understand what situation you are in?” I whisper yelled but I soon realized that I had gripped her even firmer while I yelled that.

'It happened again didn't it? I have to do something about it! I guess I know what I will do!'

No response. ‘Well I never wanted her to respond to that. I never wanted her to hear it in the first place.’an inaudible sigh left my mouth.

‘The way she is laid in my bed, in my arms like this, so carelessly, as if she is perfectly safe with me, the confidence she has in me! Why she feels such a level of safety around me? Isn’t she an agent! She should have been more vigilant!’

\-----------------end of Lucci's POV-----------------

 

Lucci kept thinking and like that he never knew when the sleep claimed his senses.

Next day he was woken up when he heard something that stirred his slumber, he cracked open his eyes to find the bed empty. He put his hand on the side where Jane had been sleeping, it was slightly warm. He heard voice of water running in the bathroom. After few minutes she came out wearing his bathrobe. Her hair was tied up as if to prevent from getting wet, she was humming some song softly. The bathrobe was quite large for her frame so it was loose fit, thus one end was coming down showing a bit of her fair skin of shoulder. She was thinking something as she looked at her cloths she had kept in his large wardrobe for situations like this.

“You look ravishing! Baby I can’t take my eyes off you! Come here!” he said turning on his side still comfortably tucked in blanket on the warm bed and holding his hand out for her.

“Hello sleepy head! Good morning to you too! Get up now, I need to go.” She said giving him her hand. He sat up and pulled her into his lap. He started eating her delicious and tender skin of her long neck and shoulder. She smelled of his shower gel. He liked when she smelled like him, it was like declaring that she is practically his to claim. She had his short black hair in her fist of one hand and another hand digging his shoulder. He hissed at sudden pain in his shoulder, if it was not for Lucci, she would have drawn out the blood by digging her fingers in his bare shoulder, as strong as he was, it only left marks on his skin, he smirked at her and attacked a particular spot he was well aware of as her weak point, his teeth connected to her neck again, he bit on a spot above her collar bone.

“Ummm! Lucci! Baby.. ..Am gonna be late!” She said moaning and throwing her head back as he had his teeth sunk into her weak spot.

After bruising the tender skin of her neck he licked it slowly as she gave another moan,

"Lucci!"

He kissed her now red-purple skin to sooth her. He took her chin in his fingers to look at her face and claimed her heavenly lips. He hummed in satisfaction and then bit on her lip a little.

"D..Don't!!" protested Jane and he bit a little harsher,

"Baby, don't cut my lip for now!" said Jane pulling out from the kiss, Lucci raised an eyebrow at her as he smirked,

"I gotta go to work and I am gonna be late!" exclaimed Jane. He sighed and gave her quick peck on lips,

“No. I will make breakfast, you get ready! I will drive you to the Galley la tower.” He said pulling back from her lips but not losing his grip over her. He put his head on her chest and held her close.

“What about your job! Aren’t you gonna get late!” She said putting her chin on his head and hugging him firmly caressing his scalp with her fingertips. He gave a sigh of contentment before he spoke in low voice.

“Don’t worry babe! I can manage there.”

"I am wearing your black t-shirt" she said in childish voice.

"Take whatever you like, it's all yours." He said without waiting for a second, he knew it that she wanted something like that since he saw her at the wardrobe thinking, it was very unlike her to think what to wear as all of clothes were similar. Jane kissed on his head and gently pulled herself off his lap and started getting ready for her office.

\--------------------

 

_**After 4 days.............** _

 

Jane was working on a case and she had to travel to a wasteland........ far away from her city. The place used to be a lively city few years back before it got bomb blasted. Jane and her team were on their way back after collecting all the evidences and the information they could gather. It was indeed a very difficult case, everything there had been ruined to ashes and people had been killed mercilessly. She was already pissed at the way they were failing to collect any valuable information and were not getting any new leads. Also she could not see Lucci before she had to fly to this place which once was called a city of Ohara. They had merely talked over phone and it’s been 4 days now that she had not seen her lover. This was not unusual for her to be away for the case she has to work on but odd thing was that he has not been calling her. Normally he called her at least twice a day, even if she was working on field or she had office job he never failed to call. She just had got two texts form him and that was on first day of her mission.

She and her team were done packing their stuff and ready to head to the airport in the neighboring city. The cars were all set and bags were being loaded into black SUVs. She was standing near one of the cars and she tried calling Lucci but couldn’t get him on line. Phone had just ringed till the line got disconnected. This had been umpteenth time for Lucci not to reply since she had left the Grand line city.

“What is wrong with you! Pick the hell up damn it!” She said in harsh voice and threw her phone on ground in a rage. The case she had to work on was not at all easy and they going nowhere with the leads. that was frustrating for Jane.

“Hey! Easy there Captain!  There might be some problem at his end. Just tell somebody to check up on him or call his friends or something.” Came a deep, calm voice of her best friend Trafalgar law.

“I tried Law! I gave call to two of his friends I knew from his office, he has not been going to the office lately. He had a friend named Bluno who worked at the Bob’s. I called them, they said he quit the job the same day we left the city. I mean what the hell? He has this friend who has long nose just like Usopp, I tried calling him too, his number is just not reachable since four days! I mean, What the fuck is going on??”

“Hey! Don’t go on calling people long nose, you ghost eyes!” Usopp was uploading the information they had gathered so far on the Agency servers snapped at Jane after hearing the word long nose. 

“Please Usopp! We have bigger issues to deal with than your big nose!!” Jane said clearly enraged.

“Hey!” Usopp backed off as he knew he was no match for the angry Jane.

“Hold it you two! Usopp-ya just check her guy’s number, trace it. I mean you can tell where is it! Big deal?” Law said shrugging.

“NO!” Jane yelled.

“Why not!!” Usopp asked making questioning face.

“That would get registered into our system and servers, Bro would see it. Last thing I want is the Bro noticing anything related to Lucci. He is already mad at him for the incident of 2 years back; he will kill poor Lucci if he finds out that I still date him like this. Why you guys think that I have always kept our people and our devices away from him? He is simple guy who works at a software company; I don’t want to make his life complicated. Plus it is not good, he would feel that I am spying on him. I trust him. I am just mad that he is not calling or picking up my call. I just wanna know if he is alright. That’s it!”

“So, that is why you won’t use the office cellphones. But things are not that simple Jane-ya! What if something really had happened to him?” Law said while checking the notification he was getting on his office cell.

“No. He is crazy strong. I mean he is stronger than all of us”

“No, He is not. He is way too thin compared to me. Now get your asses inside the car or I am gonna leave you here.” yelled the hotheaded Red-head! Eustass Kid thought that he was the strongest of all the field agents. He was insanely proud of his tall, tanned, very muscular, powerful and well-built body. He only acknowledged Shank’s and his bunch, Mihawk’s, Law's and Jane's Strength, rests were all just weaklings to him.

“I know him Kid, he is strong. He can beat you to the pulp, just try and fight him.” Jane said narrowing her eyes on Kid.

“Shuutup Jane. C’mon, I am bored of this place. We are leaving!” they rolled their eyes at Kid’s yells of ‘let’s go’, ‘let’s go’ and finally sat inside the car.

They all started their journey to the airport.

\---------------

**_In the car speeding away from Ohara_ **

“Relax Jane, if you don’t wanna track his cell and don’t want any of us to help, all you can do is to wait till you reach the city, complete the day’s task and leave the tower. Till then thinking like this and making your blood boil is not gonna help you know.” Usopp said worriedly to his friend Jane who was massaging her temple and had a scowl on her face.

“He is right Jane-ya. You know what? We already know him. Why don’t you bring him to the Vivi’s party next month? I mean none of us is going to tell Mihawk-ya. He won’t be there in our party. So, it’s safe.” Law said smiling and wanting to distract her mind.

“I don’t know Law. He is not a people person. I mean once you get to know him, he really great guy. But I don’t know if he would agree to come. I mean I have never seen him befriending others that easily. He only has four friends since all these years I have known him for.”

“Oh! You can get him do anything! Don’t ya! He practically comes at the tower daily to just have a coffee with you. I mean who does that for fucking five years? Just bring him at the Brook’s, I wanna see how strong is he!” said Kid.

“Yeah! Sure muscle brain!” Jane said smacking him on the shoulder.

\-----------------------

In the evening, after they reached the Grand line city, she completed the day’s tasks, reports and went to her condo. She took a nice bath to get rid of all the stress of the work her body had been handling. She had thought of going to Lucci’s place and find out what exactly had happened.

She wore a light gray t-shirt which actually was Lucci’s so was kind of too big for her and slim fit black jeans, she put a jacket to fight off the cold and put on her regular work shoes. She took out her dark green bike glows, black helmet and decided to ride a bike to his place. She locked her apartment with her voice-activated lock and then her floor which had a biometric lock which only opened for her, her brother and of course for Shanks.

She took elevator to the parking, started bike and went to busy roads leading to Lucci’s apartments.

She stopped seeing red lights of the traffic signal. She saw a man having green hair waving hands at her. She looked at his direction and nodded her head as if to ask what he wanted.

“Dude, please drop me off at the _Baratie_ down the next road _,_ Please!”

She face palmed, no actually helmet-palmed and motioned her hand showing her thumb out in direction of the backseat of her black MV Agusta F4 to sit behind her. The restaurant he was asking about was on the same road but in the opposite direction. When the traffic signal permitted she took the bike off the main road and tuned back and dropped him off at the Baratie none the less.

\----

“Thanks dude. Name is Zoro. You really saved me from lot of bitching, I owe you one. This is my card. I will sure help ya when ya need me, bye.” He said giving her his business card and running to restaurant.

She was about to leave and started the bike with the gentle push to the button but she saw the same blue Chevrolet Corvette C6 with the unmistakable number CP 9 which she recognized as Lucci’s car. She stopped the bike and took out her cell which now had scratches as she had thrown it on the ground earlier that day. Same thing happened. He did not pick up. She parked the bike and went inside the restaurant after taking off the helmet.

She looked around; the waitress there welcomed her and asked to sit on the available table. She simply ignored her and looked around. Lucci indeed was there, seated with a blond girl in a short skirt and she had oval shaped glasses on. He had a hand around her waist and girl appeared to be giggling at something he had said. To say that Jane was angry or pissed was an understatement, she felt her anger boiling and wave of sadness struck her in her heart. She did not know what emotions she had at that moment. She clutched the helmet more firmly and her hand went in the direction of the gun she had strapped on her back covered under the jacket.

The blond guy came in front of her and blocking off her view off which made her withdraw her hand from the gun.

“Hello beautiful, how can I be of your help? My name is Sanji. May I ask your name? Let me tell you that you are very beautiful and I may not even find appropriate words enough to describe your rare beauty but..”

“Can you arrange a table for me, I don’t have any reservation here.”

“That would be my pleasure! Please follow me, we also have tables upstairs.”

“No, please I want to be it in here only. This floor!”

“Ok! That can be arranged too, anything for a beautiful lady!” exclaimed the blonde which went ignored by Jane who was in deep thoughts.

\----------------

They went over to a table where the man with green hair was seating. The same man whom Jane has helped few minutes back.

“Hey Moss head, get up. This table has been booked by this beautiful lady.” Sanji said pointing his hand to Jane. “You can come to the kitchen anyways.” Sanji said whispering in the ear of Green head. Zoro was typing something in his cellphone but looked up to face Sanji after that statement.

“What? Why the hell should …..” Zoro looked at the girl and the words died in his mouth. The same person who had helped him reach here, the person with cool jacket and sexy bike, and ‘wait! What! That was a girl who drove me here? Well she looks nothing like those typical girls!’ Zoro thought.  

She was not paying attention to Blonde and his antics, or even to the green head staring at her as if she was an alien or something for that matter; she had her eyes fixed on Lucci, who was quite enjoying both his wine and the woman. She narrowed her eyes on him.

“Hey!” said Zoro after watching her standing next to Sanji but she was not looking at them at all.

“Hey! Miss cool bike!!” Zoro said smirking at Sanji.

“Hey!! It’s me! We met minutes ago!” the guy, Zoro moved closer and shook his hand in front of her face, he was trying to Jane’s attention and that action made her look at them.

“Yeah! What is it?” Jane said finally looking at the two men.

“You helped me, you dropped me here. Man! You have a nice bike. I have never seen a girl drive like that. I did not even notice that you were a girl, Geez, I mean ……[zoro received a jab in his side by sanji’s elbow] I mean ……….…thanks”

“Damn _Marimo…_..What is wrong with you?” whisper yelled the blonde. The cook was so pissed at the way Zoro was babbling stuff about a lady like that.

“Shutupp Dartbrow!” exclaimed Zoro,

“It is ok. Please excuse me.” Jane said ignoring them again.

“You see, you pissed her! Now she is leaving!” Sanji was more than annoyed at zoro not only because he said stupid things to a woman and was late coming Bartie but also he was staring at a girl, which  of course he wouldn’t admit.

“No idiot, she is going to talk to that guy, see.” Zoro said still staring at her.

She left the two bickering men to quarrel on their own and went over to Lucci. He was not at all shocked to see her as if he knew all along that she was there in the restaurant and as if he wanted her to come and spot him like that. He simply smiled at her and motioned her to join them while kept his hand around the woman.

‘What is going on? I caught him with another woman! He is still calm and acting all cool as if I mean nothing to him. I am on other hand so mad that I want to shoot the damn girl he has his hands on. Why is he acting like this?’ She thought.

“Lucci, I need to talk to you, in private.”

“Sure.”

He nodded and stood up. Then again lowered his head to say something in the blond woman’s ear, she gave a sly smile at whatever he had said and nodded. He went over the garden like place outside the restaurant. He stopped under a tree, away from the noises of people and traffic. She was following him. He stopped but did not turn back to face her. He had a wine glass still in his hand and took a seep from it keeping his calm composure.

“Lucci?” Jane asked in weak voice.

“Jane, I cannot do this. We are done. And it is not because of you. It’s me. I can’t be with you anymore. I am done.” He said in his deep voice which had a dark and serious tone.

“What happened all of sudden? Why now? Everything was so perfect!” she asked in hoarse voice trying to keep her rage in control and trying not to show her emotions while talking.

“No. it was not. Now, everything is perfect.” He turned on his heels to finally face her and looked into her eyes. He was dead serious when he said that he was done. She unknowingly but instinctively pressed the red button on her watch. He just smirked at her which made her eyebrow twitch.

“Look Jane, I am not the man you think I am. You had changed me to the point that I could not even recognize myself. Now I want to be me. I don’t want to be the one you want me to be. I am sorry that I have to end it like this but that was only reason I made you stay at my place these many times over last month, I wanted to confirm my thoughts about this. This is over. You can find way better guy than me. You are very attractive and truly beautiful, you really are rare Jane. I had a very good time with you. So, this is good bye, darling!”

He left her there; she was still standing the way she was when she arrived. She looked unfazed but she was broken inside. She did not cry till he left the place. As soon as his footsteps fade, warm tears started streaming down her face. She could not even see clearly. Her expressions did not show her sadness but tears did not stop. The air felt nauseous, heart beat elevated to the point that she felt it would explode in her chest, vision was turning blurry, world started rotating, her feet could no longer bear her weight and she collapsed on the very ground she was standing on.

\---------------

**_In Hawkeye Tower_ **

On the 43rd floor, the room at the very left end was dim-lit and air was warm. In spite of the winter, the room was warm and cozy. The _Sake_ tasted so damn good when it was shanks Mihwak is drinking with. It was very rare for them to actually spend some time with each other like this. Mihawk had been keeping himself away from everything and everyone after his wife’s death but he just could not bear it sometimes. Many years he avoided the other man as he had problem confessing himself that he in fact had those types of feelings for a person of same gender. It took him lot of time to understand that it was really ok to be with another man like this. Red head was a laid back, loving, caring, understanding and easy going person. He mended Mihawk’s heart really well and loved the golden eyed man in spite of his rude behavior. Shanks had waited for him for many years. It was still very rare that he showed his affection to the red head like this.

Mihawk had his Red-head lover pinned to the couch as he eat Shanks' lips while they were making out. The snogs and kisses were rare; Shanks felt like he had been not kissed since forever, it felt like once in decades. Shanks' grunts were making Mihawk rub his groin on the Red-head's.

"Uurrrrmghgh!" groaned Shanks as his member rubbed against his lover's, covered in fabric of his pants. It made the golden-eyed Man's shaft twitch in his own pants.... This kind of affection and intimacy from Mihawk was extremely rare and Shanks could wait forever for this.......he had decided it long back,

They had their share of rough days. The cases they solved and the way trained their employees for various challenges whom they treated as their own family was not an easy task to carry out day in and day out. Only Jane was aware of this awkward relationship of her adoptive elder brother had with her crazy laid-back cheeky boss-cum-best-friend-trainer who happened to be her most favorite person on earth too.  Shanks and Mihawk had kept the things quite simple. They never ever showed any public affection nor did they saw each other when in the office grounds or in the tower area they also had a whole of a floor in between their own floors. The middle being Jane’s floor, she has kept it secret from her friends for she knew her brother all too well. They handled completely different part of the company.

The red button alarm [RB alarm] suddenly went off in Shank’s room.

The shrill noise in the room snapped the love birds back to the reality, they suddenly sat up from their compromising positions and struggled to untangle their limbs, finally red head managed to pull himself off his lovers arms and ran to the monitor.

“Who is that!” Mihawk asked curtly.

“It’s Jane, Mihawk!” Red head said worriedly.

“What? Where is she? I am going!” Mihawk stood up and took his jacket off the couch and started to put on, he messily took the gun and started getting ready for a fight in order to head out and save his kid sister.

“Wait! We can’t go. It’s very risky for her to be seen in public with you or even with me or any of us old men. Kid and law are close to her location.” Mihawk gave a sigh in defeat and went closer to the monitor on the Shank’s desk.

Shanks dialed Law’s cell.

“Hey Boss-ya!”

“Law, get out of there right now. Go to Baratie immediately. Its Jane, her RB alarm went off. Keep the line on”

“What! Ok, We are on our way!”

“Shanks, tell him to give us a video feed too. Give him her location on his tracker tab.” Mihawk whispered after he leaned over the table putting his hands on desk and narrowing his eyes on the monitor beeping and showing a red dot outside the Baratie.

“Done already!” he whispered back.

They heared Law’s voice which was quite far away, as f law has kept the cell in his pocket.

“Kid-ya, we need to go c’mon!”

“Why?”

“Jane, her RB alarm went off, hurry I am taking out the car out of the parking you clear our tab and run fast.”

“Yeah! Let go of me woman! I gotta go!” Came the voice of Kid. They were in club as the noises of music and people could be heard from the line still connected to Law’s cell.

“Where the hell are these two?” Mihawk whisper asked as his lover who was actually tracking the movements of Law and Kid in his work PC.

“Oh! They are in _Rain Dinners_ , they would reach her location in 20 minutes!” Red head whispered eyes still fixed on the screen.

“Bozos, why they go to that freaky place anyway! No standards!”

“You said something Boss-ya!” came the much nearer voice of Law.

“Yeah! I have sent you the live feed of her location id on your tracker device, just switch the cam feed on so that I would get Audio as well as video feed and you may cut this line off.” Shanks said.

“Sure thing boss!”

\--------------------

Law and Kid reached the Baratie, they knew that they had no need to go inside the restaurant. They spotted her black Agusta parked outside the restaurant.

“That’s her bike! Man! She drove a bike here?” said Kid while stopping the car.

“You wait here, I know where she is.” With that Law sneaked in the garden and after few minutes spotted his best friend sprawled out on ground with her eyes closed and chest heaving due to uneven breathing.

“Got her boss! She is in bad shape. She is blacked out. I don’t think that she is been poisoned though.”

“Jane!” Said shanks worriedly watching the video feed he was getting.

“Boss-ya, connect me to Kaya please.” Law picked Jane up and went outside the garden, people noticed him now as he could no longer sneak out the way he had come in.

He went over the car, put Jane in the front seat he was sitting before.

“What you doing Man!”

“Get out Kid, I need to treat her. I am driving back her, you bring her bike back. Nobody knows how to drive that crazy thing beside you and her. Nobody is near enough to come here quickly, Usopp is at franky’s but he can just come and watch over the bike. We can’t leave it here as it has our fancy devices all over it. C’mon hurry!” he said while he put the seat belt on Jane so to keep her unconscious form in place.

“Ok! Take good care of her man! Seeya!”

“Yeah”

With that Law drove her back the tower. She was taken to the private hospital inside the Hawkeye tower had inside the building. Law was a fine doctor and a skilled fighter. He was very intelligent and multitasking agent of her team. He knew her since the very start of the company. She was his best friend since many years as they went to same school together but then Law had to pursue his dream of being a best heart surgeon and was admitted to top medical schools city of Flavance in the north blue far away from Grand line city. He came back to the city with a degree in hand in mere two years and trained with her to become an agent in Hawkeye security Systems. He did not know anybody here in Grand line city, beside Jane and Shanks. All the friends he had were also friends with Jane and Shanks. He felt like home in this city, he had taken a liking to it since he was child and moved in here with the now deceased elder brother named Rosinante.

He treated her and found out that she was panting heavily on the ground out cold because of the emotional stress. He had a very good idea what it might be. While driving back, he had asked Kid to look for a Lucci in the restaurant. But Lucci along with the woman had miraculously disappeared within matter of seconds not only from the restaurant but also form the city and from Jane’s life as if they never existed. Mihawk found out that she still was dating Lucci, he had his agents searched for Lucci in whole city but could not find any leads of his whereabouts. All they found out was he was an assassin and so were all his friends, they were undercover so as to carry out the mission of assassinating the only eye witness of murder of a royal family, which had been killed in the city of Ohara 20 years back and to destroy the evidence of which the whole city was wiped out. Suspiciously enough he disappeared from her life when Jane was working in a case that involved the bomb blasts in city of Ohara.


	2. Lost the lover but got back a parent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane is devastated but her best friend Law and adoptive brother Mihawk and Shanks take care of her. Jane's love life is destroyed due to Lucci's betrayal but Shanks receives a confession from the one he is been waiting for years. She recovers with the help of Shanks and Law or at least people thought so, but she becomes a Hawkeye machine and tries to drown herself in the work. Mihawk finally understands that he cant live without Shanks and his sister by his side.
> 
> Law and Shanks plan some surprise for Jane to bring back her to her older self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is Mihawk/Shanks :)  
> Enjoy!

_“Jane, I cannot do this. We are done. And it is not because of you. It’s me. I can’t be with you anymore.” “Look Jane, I am not the man you think I am. You had changed me to the point that I could not even recognize myself. Now I want to be me. I don’t want to be the one you want me to be.”_

Jane opened her eyes to find herself laid comfortably in a bed in a dim lit room she recognized as the medic division room in the Hawkeye tower. The words Lucci said to her, the way he spoke to her, those heart breaking statements thrown at her were still fresh in her memories and ringing her ears, she again felt nauseous and felt her heartbeat elevated and the machine gave out a shrill voice indicating Jane going in panic again.

“Hey!! Jane?? You are ok now. Just calm down baby. Please” Came an assuring and caring voice of Shanks who had been sitting beside her bed all night.

“D...Dad?” She asked in hoarse voice.

“Yeah baby, I am here, right here with you. Law brought you back and he checked you up for trauma. You were in shock he said. Look! Whatever happened, however bad you think its gonna get, don't worry, we would fight it off, together! I promise to make everything right. Okay! Just calm down now!” he said running his hands though her hair, producing soothing effect. He made her calm down and go to sleep again.

“How you do it? I am sure, if I would have been in your place, she would have never reacted like that. She is closer to you than she is to me. She loves you more” Came a cold and curt voice of Mihawk. Apparently they both were in the room and it was not the common medic room she  thought was in but it was a new room in shanks’ place he had recently made his people to build in his floor.

“It’s nothing like that. She loves you too. You never show any affection, she does not want you to push her away. She respects you too much.” Shanks said looking at the sleeping form of Jane.

“You should get some sleep Shanks. You have been up all night acting like a worried mother over her. Go, take a nap, I will sit here for some time. It’s not like she would have a heart attack if she sees me instead of you when she wakes up. I am worried too you know.” while saying that Mihawk came, made Shanks stand up and put an arm around his shoulder.

“I know, better than anyone.” Shanks said finally stretching his limbs and leaving the room,

Mihawk fought back the urge to follow his lover to his bedroom and sat on the chair near her bed and started reading form the tab.

\-----

 

When Jane opened her eyes again, she found her elder brother, holding her left hand in his right, he had fallen asleep keeping his head on the bed near her shoulder. She moved her free hand to reach to his short raven locks and smiled sadly at his head.

“You woke up! How do you feel now?” asked Mihawk awkwardly after clearing his throat when he realized the he had in fact fallen asleep.

“I am ok brother.” Jane said with tired voice and sad eyes.

“Do you need anything?” he asked leaving her hand, closing his eyes and standing up.

“Yes” she managed to sit up and then tucked her hair behind the ear. That reply made him open his eyes and look at her.

“Brother I need your forgiveness. I don’t even know how to apologize to you. I don’t think the words are enough.” She seemed like she was about to cry, her voice was weak, her eyes were down. Mihawk was so confused and angry at her behaviour. She was vigilant, smart and bold. She never got scared of anything, she always did what she thought was right. Seeing her all broken like that made his heart ache but he did not know the ways to comfort anybody with words. He merely looked at her with those piercing golden eyes.

“Brother, I have failed you. The way they made a fool out of me and I just could not do anything, its really pathetic. When you kept warning me I kept ignoring. I am not worthy of your time and love. I am just the person I was before you took me in and taught me the ways of the world. I have failed your teachings and your faith. I feel like a looser. And any punishment would not be enough for what I have done.” She said in low apologetic voice and her head down, her eyes not meeting her brother’s gaze.

“So, you are ready to take your punishment!!” He asked in a cold and sharp voice.

“Yes, brother” she said, whispering back, Jane looked down at her hands, closed her eyes ready to face her punishment.

After few silent moments,

“You are to get recovered from this idiocy in a single day and resume work next day morning.”

That snapped her out of her sad phase and she shot her head up to meet his scrutinizing gaze. Her eyes were wide and brows were shot up.

‘What? He is not going to ground me?? What I have done is unforgivable. I knew that I would enter in this profession right from the start of my education, brother is been my idol all along. I should not have fallen in love with Lucci to begin with. I knew that I could not afford to have such a thing as love in my life in the first place. But he won my heart and I spent nearly 6 years of my life dating him, when brother told me not to do such a thing, I ignored it saying that he was an understanding man and that Lucci would not mind me working as a cop. Now that I am done embarrassing myself like this, I thought I would be told to do meaningless office jobs as a punishment and I would have to spend whole  of my time either in my room or office and Shank’s would never lose sight of me. I thought I would be stripped off my rank and my freedom. It has always been like this, last time he found out about Lucci I got silent treatment form him and I was grounded for like 3 months. Is he serious this? Did he predict Lucci to do something like this from very start??’,

“We have enough on our plate with the Clover Royal Family Murder case already and we have got another case where we have to provide an armed security guards and new security system to the whole palace. I don’t have these many people. We need all our task force well and active. And I am not paying you for the day and half you wasted in here, off duty. Plus you keep busy Shanks when you get all dizzy, he just wont leave you!!” he said and gave smirk to her.

Shanks had heard it all. He finally came inside the room and pushed Mihawk forward so as to make him sit on the bed in front of her. She gave Mihawk a heart-warming hug. She did not cry but gave Shanks a genuine smile. Mihawk was stiff in hug and he felt awkward at the first but he soon relaxed and hugged her back patting her head awkwardly.

She pulled out,

“Hey Shanks! How come you are here! I mean…....”

“You, sweetheart, are in my private medic room, on my floor. That is how we both are here.” He said giving her a wink. She gave him a smile.

\-----

They took her out of that room, went to the kitchen and had dinner together. It was after a while, they had a family dinner like that. Shank’s liked cooking for her. The Kitchen was silent apart from the small noises made of metal clinking on the glass crockery, Shanks’ occasional sentences and comments on Mihawk’s behaviour and Mihawk’s very short dry replies on Shank’s comments.

Mihawk helped Jane to the Shank’s study and went back to the kitchen to help Shanks clean the kitchen. She went over to the desk to find a file with Rob Lucci printed on it with a photo pinned in the front.

She picked up the file and stared at it. The photo was recent as the date mentioned was that very day along with the time stamp on it; it was about just two hours earlier the current time. She had no courage to open the file and read what they have found out about him. She just stared at the photo. Lucci had his black suit on with a black hat on his head which surprisingly suited him well; he had a cigar in his hand while giving a puff of smoke out of his mouth, she suddenly recalled him saying that he never smoked. His expressions were of a sly, manipulative mastermind unlike the one he had when he took her in his arms, when they made love, when he kissed her and his eyes looked sharp and cold, unlike those who gave warmth to her.

She never even knew that she was crying silently until a tear fell off her cheek and dropped on to the photo giving off a small sparkle of light in her direction. Shanks and Mihawk entered the room and shanks patted her on head, took the file from her hand and made her sit on the chair. He crouched down in front of her and took her hands in his,

“Look, I know you are disturbed right now. You are strong and I need you to be yet stronger. We have found out that Lucci was a trained professional like us, sent here to either kill or apprehend an only eyewitness of the Clover royal family murder case. He was having team of 5, including himself and they had us distracted for quite a long time now. Finally, when you found out that the reason of the disappearance of the city was in fact the bomb blasts and it was not accidental gas leakage what we were lead to believe in, Lucci had to blow off his cover so as to break you form inside out. We have found a new Intel, the girl who had escaped the Alabasta raid when we arrested the Crocodile gang was the real eye witness and she has again gone into the hiding. Now, only you know her face, you were the only one besides Vivi who saw her that day. We even don’t have footage of that time.”

“The girl with the black hair and tanned skin!! She is the girl from 20 years ago?”

“Yes or at least it is like that according to the information your team has gathered so far. My guess is that those 5 are hired professionals or hitmen, as we may say, have disappeared because they have already found what they have come for and just wanted to give our team a good blow that is why he decided to break you bad. They had planted a virus in our system too while accessing your bike’s track and cam device and thus hack servers while you were unconscious. But Usopp and franky managed to keep the damage at the bay” informed Shanks further,

“Bastard!” Jane cursed under her breath.

“Exactly!! That is what I want you to think about him, as I have always wanted you to.” spat Mihawk dryly.

“It is all my fault dad!” She said looking down at her hands firmly held by Shanks. He gave her hands an assuring squeeze.

“Hey! That is not important. Look there are many things you want to catch up on. I need you to resume as early as possible and work like you always do. Just find me that girl and end this thing forever. I just want to find out that who killed them and why before those five get their hands on her and the documents in her possession if any. We cannot let them win like this. You are better than Lucci.”

“I don’t want to hear his name.” She said closing her eyes, which had started tearing up again and warm tears started streaming down her already tear stained face.

“If you keep crying like a typical girl, he wins without a fight! We have raised you better than that.” Said Mihawk in a little irritated voice. Shanks' eyebrow twitched at his statement,

“Mihawk please!” scolded Shanks,

“What?? It is your fault for being such a softy to her. She is brave and strong, an excellent officer and very good detective, what good the crying is going to do?”

“No. Just give me a day. I will resume my tasks from tomorrow.” She said looking at Shanks who in turn nodded his head.

“If you want, you can stay with me for the day.” Shanks said smiling brightly. She shook her head saying ‘no’ and wiped the tears off her face.

“No, you two don’t get much time as it is. I want to go. I am okay I promise.” She said smiling at Shanks.

“Okay, Law wants to see you, he came to check up on you like 5 times the when you were unconscious, make sure you call him. And we have new tool kit for you; you would have new bike, cell, tab, tracker, car, belt, ear piece and gun. Everything new would be ready for you by tomorrow; Franky is working on your gadgets right now! I would give it to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Thank you dad!!” She said getting up from the chair and making Shanks stand as well.

“C’mon let me take you to your place.” He put his arm around her shoulder and motioned her to come. He took Jane to her room, made her sleep on her comfy bed, tucked her in a blanket and kissed her forehead goodbye. At home when Shanks was there staying at hers or when she stayed over at Shanks', she got to become a kid again; she got to behave like a 12 year old around him. He did everything a father would do to make her every small wishes come true, he took care if her all small needs, he even bought her balloons and chocolates.

Shanks came to his place again to find out that Mihawk was no longer to be found in the study. His shoulders dropped down at thought of Mihawk leaving without a word and his mind tensed up.

‘What is wrong with you Mihawk?? Why can’t we have a normal relationship? Now that you have found out how you feel about me and that I love you to death, what is the problem now? Even Jane wants us to be together. I really get a fatherly feeling for her since we have met her. I don’t see why you avoid me even now! I want to love you both and be a proper family’ Shanks thought while he was standing in his study, staring at the ground. He was laid back, easy going and he seemed always happy, tried to cheer up everybody, but there was nobody to bring his hopes up. He was feeling so low he never noticed he had spent a considerable amount of time alone in the study being all depressed and feeling sad. ‘Che! What the hell am I doing? It’s been like this for a while! Why can’t I get used to be alone!!’ he thought himself and stretched his limbs.

He was tired from being up all night for Jane and being worried about her. He wanted Mihawk to stay with him, at least for the rest of the day! He had all office work all covered up. They could have easily managed everything form up there at least for few hours. He took a book from a bookshelf so as to read himself to the sleep and left the study for the bedroom.

“Took you long enough! Was she crying again?” Came the deep and slightly worried voice of Mihawk; he was standing near the window staring beyond city somewhere. Shanks was surprised to hear his voice but the tension inside his mind did not disappear even after seeing Mihawk present inside his bedroom.

“No. I never would have left her crying! I thought you went to office downstairs. I was in the study, I went looking for you!” said Shanks reluctantly avoiding looking at his lover. He dropped himself on the bed carelessly, closed his eyes in frustration and hissed at the stung he experienced after closing them. The pain went away after few minutes, but he felt the bed move downwards as if weight has been added on it and he opened his eyes to find beautiful golden orbs staring at him, two strong hands resting on either side of his head, Mihawk was towering above him.

“Shanks, what is that Ben Beckman to you?” Mihawk said putting his left knee beside Shank’s waist so as to fully cover him from above.

“Why do you care? What I am to you anyways?” Shanks’ deep voice had a sharp edge unlike his usual self. Mihawk looked into Shanks' big brown eyes and came closer to him,

“Tell me?” He whisper demanded.

“Are you jealous?” Shanks asked mockingly changing his demeanour all of a sudden.

“Of course not! I don’t share. And you are mine.”

“Really? How so?” Shanks asked playfully. No response came from the golden eyed man. He stood there, closer to his Redhead, their noses almost touching each other’s.

“Mihawk?” Asked Shanks bit worriedly.

“I won’t ask you again! Tell me what he is to your Shanks! Why does he keep trying to get so touchy feely with you!” demanded the golden eyed man,

“He likes me and wants me of course! But I like a stupid, cold-hearted bastard who does not even notice me and hides his feelings from me and had not even made his move yet so what can I do, people think I am still available.” Shanks chided shrugging.

“I hide my feelings you say! Well, you are right. I still don’t get it. I mean I used to hate you or I had thought so, but now I cannot keep myself away from you. You annoy me to no end and you are complete opposite of me when it comes to expressing things yet I am still here. Always around you, hopelessly wanting to clear my head and try figure out why I do this. Why I get possessive over you!” Mihawk said in deep husky voice. Shanks got happy hearing Miahawk speak something romantic like that...

“Oh! You are just in love with me that is why!” Said Shanks giving him a toothy grin because that was all Shanks wanted to hear. Mihawk never said anything close to ‘I love you’, he never admitted his feelings to him, just actions were there which told Shanks that it was worth waiting for Mihawk.

“You know he is just a friend but you are a lover!!” Shanks said in a seductive voice and used his elbows to raise his head a little and give a quick kiss on Mihawk’s lips.

Mihawk could no longer control himelf, his hand went to his lover's head and fingers entangled in fire red hair behind the back of his neck and Shanks was pulled towards Mihawk’s face, their lips finally met in a passionate and demanding kiss. Shanks put his hands to work on removing Mihawk’s white shirt, Mihawk let Shanks take off his clothes as he kept Kissing Shanks and massaging his body, feeling Shanks with his hands. Mihwak's shirt was gone in a minute showing his well-toned chest and Shanks traced with his hands Mihawk’s face, his neck, moved his hands to Mihawk's chest, then down to his waist and started working on his pants while they kissed. Mihawk took Shanks' hands away from himself, broke the kiss and pinned both of Shanks' hands behind his back to make him stop undressing Mihawk while making him sit up which earned a whimper from the Red head.

“You are too much dressed for my liking, Now strip!” ordered Mihawk in voice full of lust. After stretching the tie loose, Shanks started undoing the buttons of his shirt, Mihawk was watching him intently with his unreal beautiful golden eyes,

“Mihawk you sure you want to do it? I mean….” Shanks couldn't complete as he was pulled into another passionate kiss and pushed back to bed, Mihawk placed Shanks' hands over his own shoulders. While he was being kissed so passionately, his shirt was literally ripped off his chest with force that made the buttons break. His trousers were harshly removed along with his boxer revealing his half hard member. Shanks' cheeks tinged pink as he realized he was naked now. Only his red tie lay loose on Shanks' perfect necked body. Mihawk changed position a little so he was now having both his legs on both sides of Shanks' waist. He brought his face close to Shanks' and touched his lips to his lover’s swollen lips ever so slightly and said,

“I am going to take you now, right here and you would always be mine.” Shanks shivered at his possessive statement and demanding touches. Mihawk showered his lover’s neck with wet kisses and sucked on his skin while he took out Shanks’s tie and then harshly bit down his neck earning hiss from Shanks. He used Shanks’s tie to tie his hands above his head.

“Hey!! that is not fair! I want to touch you too!!” Shanks said pouting.

“Next time when I say ‘strip’, you take your clothes off like a good boy then I may let you touch me.” said Mihwak giving him a smirk and started giving the Red head kisses all over his chest. He was shivering at every touch. He took Redhead’s hard nipple between his teeth and gently bit it down while pinching the other in between his fingers. The view of Shanks' helpless naked body writhing below his own sent him overbroad with emotions,

“You know it’s been really long…… [pant]………. and I can’t control myself right now so you would have to take it a little rough.” Mihawk’s deep voice was sending thousands of bolts through Redhead’s body.

He moved Shanks to make him lay on stomach, Shanks swallowed against the thickness in his throat when his hands were lead to grip the wooden edges of the bed and his hair was fisted harshly so as to make him turn his head back for Mihawk ro capture his lips again. After a quick kiss, Mihawk impatiently put three of his fingers in Redhead’s mouth and at the same time gripped his hard member in his another hand, his chest being connected to Shank’s back while his own half hard cock was rubbing against Shanks’s ass form behind.

In the frenzy, Shanks did not even notice when his hand gripped the wooden edges and his back arched and he threw his head backwards while Shanks moaned against the fingers in his mouth as soon as his throbbing member was covered in Mihawk’s fingers. Shanks’s opening was then teased by the saliva wet fingers and his cock was being stroked ever so slightly, the speed was agonizingly slow and made him whimper. He had to fight back an urge to tear away the tie to free his own hands and touch himself but he knew better than to ruin the moment. The moment he waited for all these years,

“Mihawk please” he said pleading Mihawk to hurry,

"Please what?"

"Mihawk...!!"

“Say, you are mine……….. only mine” Mihawk said against skin of Shank’s shoulders.

“I …… [ _pant_ ]…I am only yours….to have Mihawk, please don’t …… don’t tease me anymore”

“I already told you that I cannot control myself.”

Suddenly Shank’s felt a sharp crack of Mihawk’s palm against his deliciously spread bottom. That made him moaned Mihawk’s name loudly, his pre-cum has been already wetting Mihawk’s hand, he took his wet hand and impaled Shanks with wet fingers of his own pre-cum while another spanked his bottom mercilessly.

Shanks was shuddering violently as he pushed himself back to get some more friction against the impatient fingers in his entrance as he was really close to the edge already due to Mihawk’s passionate and rough treatment.

“Mihawk……. I am gonna…....”That sentence was cut off by the whimper escaping Shank’s mouth as Mihawk pulled his fingers back and stopped spanking. Shanks was pulled backwards to Mihwak’s chest.

“Not yet love! I haven’t even entered you yet.” Mihawk said giving his red-headed lover a kiss on neck. He positioned his own throbbing member against Shank’s entrance and Shank’s gave a painful gasp as Mihawk pushed his perfect hard cock against his red head’s welcoming hole.

“Shushhhh……let me in babe……just push back for me….....[panting heavily]…breath babe…….breath” Mihawk said between pants, he too was on the edge. It’s has really been a while since he had been engaged in such a passionate and intimate activity, let alone by a lover. Shanks opened up and pushed back and felt his lover’s hot and leaking cock head pushed past his rings inside.

“Fuck! So hot! You are so fucking tight!” said Mihawk while Shank’s shuddered uncontrollably adjesting around Mihawk's shaft inside him. Mihawk groaned and stopped for a moment and pushed his way deep inside until he was buried inside Shanks to the hilt. Shanks hyperventilated and desperately tried to steady his breath when Mihawk had stopped for a moment there. Soon Mihawk found pace, he started moving in and out and soon found Shank’s good spot to hit again and again which made Shank’s see starts,

“I am gonna crack open your lovely ass and am gonna fucking own it, you understand, you are mine.” Mihawk said bringing his shuddering lover nearer to his body and gripped him to keep him place as he continued pounding inside him senseless. With few more minutes of ass plowing and sweaty heavy pants, Shanks came hard all over his lover’s stroking hand with loud moan of Mihawk’s name and after few more thrusts Mihawk released his seed inside Redhead’s delicious ass with silent moan and he dropped himself over shanks. Both lay there naked, sticky and sweating bodies finding comfort in one another’s presence.

.....

After their breathing even out,

“I only had one lover all my life Mihawk and I am in his arms right now. I may appear all careless and very approachable but I am no player. I always have loved you and waited for you”

“I know, I love you too Shanks. Tsk! You finally made me say it, didn’t you?” That made Shanks happy to no end; he was smiling like an idiot keeping his eyes closed. He hissed when Mihawk pulled himself out of his Red head’s ass.

“Wait, I will clean you off…!” Mihawk said as he kissed Shanks on shoulder and got up, he held Shanks up a little to pull out the ruined bedsheet beneath Shanks body.

Mihawk went to bathroom and he brought wet towel from bathroom after he got himself cleaned. He wiped Shank’s off the wet sticky white he had on his stomach, thighs and ass covered in and threw the bed sheet and the towel inside the washing machine. He neatly took the tie off his arms and made him sleep comfortably. By the time Mihawk did all that work and also collected all the ripped off pieces of Shank’s clothes and put them on the table, Shanks was fast asleep and low snoring could be heard in the calm room. He went over to the bed, climbed on to it to get behind Shanks and took Shanks in his arms.

“Thank you for being with a person like me Shanks. I really love you but I know no words to comfort you! I hope I can make it up to you for all this time you waited for me. I was not ready but I am now, I need you and so does Jane. You always were the parent Jane needed, now its my time to be there for both of you the way you two actually deserve.” Mihawk whispered and kissed his snoring Red head on his still sweaty temple.

He turned on the AC and covered both of their naked bodies with a blanket. When Shanks sleepily adjusted himself in Mihawk’s warm embrace and put his hands around the golden eyed man, Mihawk finally welcomed the slumber who soon took over his senses.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jane resumed her job like she had promised; she tried to drown herself into work. She never found any leads on the whereabouts of the girl she was looking for. As that particular case reminded her of Lucci she did not work on it until after the working hours but she fell into habit of working herself to such a state that she could take her mind off her broken heart, she took up many cases and started working day and night on them and that did not go unnoticed by Shanks and Mihawk.

Mihawk was happy that she was back in her form, Shanks was worried about her health as she worked more than 16 hours daily and this continued for more than two months. Law was helping her in almost each and every case. She solved about 18 cases in a month and that was really a record. She also got awarded by the government as the one of the cases she solved involved protecting the innocent kids form a maniac of a scientist and she actually avoided the mass panic as she handled case so very vigilantly that news of chemical being spread in water did not lick and they had avoided it by emptying the tanks filled with chemicals mixed with water into their own containers which then were brought into Hawkeye tower for analysis and only few kids were victims of getting mere marks on their hands and skins. The person was indeed a _physco_ named _Ceasar_ and who wanted to experiment on kids he had kidnapped with the help of bunch of misfits from society. He was arrested due to efforts of Jane and her team which included law and Usopp. Things between Shanks and Mihawk were great; Jane was happy that her brother finally accepted his own feelings for the Redhead and gave respect to Shank’s love towards him.

\-----

It was the monthly meeting at Hawkeye tower; all the members of the task force were present excluding Eustass kid. Various issues were discussed such as weapon inventory, new gadgets Franky had suggested for improving the tracking system, new satellite video feed monitors were to be purchased, company was expanding and there was need of yet more people and many more other issues. Jane demanded for three more team members to be allotted to her as Kid was no longer part of her team and she needed somebody at the office all the times who can support her with all the tech and info she needed apart from the analyst Vivi.

After meeting they all went to their work.

\----------

Jane along with her team was in the vicinity of the industrial area of the city investigating case of murder which people thought was an accident. Usopp was sitting in car and uploading the info to the server as usual. Law and Jane were collecting samples and finding evidences.

“Hey Law, there is definitely something fishy in here. I mean look at people, they were not even bothered that their colleague just died, it’s like nobody was shocked to see his corpse, like they expected him to die!”

“Oi, what are you saying! Didn’t you listen to what they were saying? Everybody was sad. Why are you so suspicious of everybody?” Usopp yelled in their ears pieces from the car.

“Shuhuudup Idiot! That all was acting! I saw the video footage of the room after we left the scene.”

“Aargh! You have the footage, let me upload it.”

“Usopp-ya, she just saw it, we don’t have it. She just made the guards talk to us as the distraction and sneaked in the surveillance room when they denied having the camera outside the working area. When we entered the premises we saw a camera outside, dint we? They said that I was not working. She wanted to check the footage of men working outside the building but she found the different sections of the hidden cam files.” Said Law before Jane could say anything to Usopp.

“That bastard! After getting this case solved I am gonna report this hidden cam thing!”

“Yeah! Why people do that!” Usopp said sighing.

“Jane-ya I have found another corps! Come here!”

"Shit!! It looks like it’s been there for weeks!” said Usopp as he got a fresh picture law sent him.

“Where the hell are you Law?” Jane asked.

“Right behind this black wall with all the graffiti work all over it, near the unused storeroom. It’s so strange, I guess they tried to burn it first, but must have thought that it would be noticed to much so must have buried the poor guy instead!”

“See! Enough proof that the guy was murdered! Accidents my Ass!! Law be careful, I fee like somebody must be on to us. I am no my way!” Jane said in angry voice.

“Aye! Aye! Cap'n!”

“Usopp, can you hack into their surveillance network?” Jane asked Usopp.

“I will try!” he said thinking and taking info from the office servers. Jane realized that they might have being watched and they could be…Jane widen her eyes as realization of Usopp's safety hit her.

“On the second thought, Usopp lock the car right now! You may be in danger; you are a sitting duck right now. Just be..”

“What! Who would attack me?” Usopp exclaimed but did what he was told to do. “Jane, something just flew and hit the window. It looked like a needle or something; thank god I had these glasses on. You were right. There is somebody here!” Usopp said freaking out and he was so damn noisy for Jane’s liking. For a minute she thought to go and get Usopp first but Law was in more danger, Usopp was sitting in bulletproof car and he was quite far away from the scene of the crime,

“Usopp! Do you see anybody?”

“No! What do I do? What do I do! Please save me.” yelled Usopp, Jane was pacing to catch up with Law.

“Usopp, you are our sniper! Don’t panic, tell me what you see!”

Usopp and Jane heard shots getting fired; it was form law’s earpiece.

“Law! What is happening?” Jane yelled.

“Law! Oh my god! Law! You ok?” Usopp got worried.

“Usopp can you drive here? We need that corpse and I am going to see what happened to Law”

“Yeah!” Usopp started the car and tracked her earpiece so to go to the exact location she wanted him to be at.

Jane was already running towards the black wall near the store room. She took her gun out and pulled out the smart tracker screen form pocket and fixed it on her arm so as to track Law’s Ear piece. She took a turn as per directions given by the device and took a turn. She saw the Wall that Law mentioned. But before she could change her course to jump over the small pump like structure on the ground, she was pulled by the arm harshly. She instinctively dropped her gun and used her force to pin the man to the ground putting her elbow on the man’s throat to find it was indeed law who had pulled her.

“Jane-ya, somebody just shot at me when I was taking a closer look the corpse. I dropped my earpiece there. They tried to take the dead man, but I managed to outmaneuver them.” Law whispered trying to remove her hand off his throat.

“How?” Jane asked in disbelief.

“I let them take corpse of course!” He said with a sly smile that made Jane grip his collar and made her angry face at Law. “And I planted my earpiece into the corpse’s clothes” Law said smirking.

“Idiot, you are shot! We need to stop the bleeding!” She was impressed with his quick thinking but at the same time angry at his antics. Law always did that.

“It’s just a flesh wound Jane-ya! You know I am a doctor.”

Usopp came driving the car to their location. Law was shot in the thigh but bullet had just brushed off his skin and created a flesh wound. She picked up her gun and supported law up. They got inside the car, law quickly bandaged himself and Jane drove the car in the direction where her tracker was pointing.

“Jane, they stopped. I think I know where they are. Look, from the map I can tell that they are near that clown’s old factory, rather a store room”

“Yeah? That Ceasar of Punk Hazard case! Is he responsible for those deaths? Is he still experimenting?” Law asked skeptically. 

“But we had handed over him to GLPD. Cant they just keep a fucking watch on the prisoners, damned ceasor! How can he still be conducting those experiments? I have to talk to Smokey” said Jane, getting angry at that maniac, she herself had arrested him.

\--

They reached the hideout, they indeed were Ceasors men. They were shocked seeing Jane and her men and thus Jane’s team had an element of surprise and it was quite easy to arrest all of them as Usopp took one of them out with his dart-gun from sitting in car itself. They beat the pulp out off cesor’s men and interrogated them to find out that he clown had escaped the prison and was secretly been provided funds for his experiments by the owner of the factory and the guy who everybody thought died of an accidental intake of hazardous gas while working, was in fact experimented on by the Ceasor’s men and the corpse Law found out was the guy who previously worked for the same company but was missing since 8 months. They arrested the men who shot at Law and they asked for backup for escorting them to Galley la Tower’s cell as the car they were travelling in had no provision for carrying the prisoners.

After handing he prisoners over, they went back to Jane’s office,

“Law, don’t you need to take a look at that wound?” Jane said taking the seep from her water bottle and eyes fixed on the laptop placed on the desk while she was sitting on the chair. She was typing something and the only sound in the room was the sound of keys being tapped or pressed. Law was seated on the sofa and he had his head relaxed on the back of sofa, eyes closed, hands hanging loose, legs spread in front, while Jane was checking for any new case if was reported to their portal and started searching for some clues that might lead her to the missing Alabasta case girl.

“Hey, Law! You asleep? I said go and tend the fucking wound! Bandages have gotten all red. It may bleed, we fought those bozo’s at the 8th street remember!”

“Yeah! I know. It’s ok. It won’t bleed. I am fine.” Law said in bored tone.

“Ok smartass! Do what you want!” She said never looking away from the screen of her laptop.

“You don’t know how smart I actually am and you have no Idea how my ass is, so don’t comment on it!” Law threw a taunt smirking more to himself but got no response from her. She acted as if she did not listen anything. Law opened his eye and looked at her, all busy typing and taking some notes on small piece of paper and he got pissed at her,

“What are you doing now Jane? Are you trying to get us both killed?” He asked in deep and bored voice.

“You can rest Law! You are shot and our working hours are over as it is. Go, take some rest, you look horrible.” She just pushed him and his concern away, like she is been doing since last month or two after she recovered from the trauma of Lucci’s betrayal. Her statement made Law narrow his eyes on Jane.

“No, you take some rest. I at least had a sleep of 6 hours, you are working for what! Like 18 hours now! You will affect your health and thus our work like that. Take a look at your face first then tell me I look horrible.” Law said in slightly irritated voice. It was so unlike Law to get snapped at some casual comment like that and that too, from his best friend Jane.

“Law! Don’t start that again ok!” She said furrowing her brows way too much. Law took a long breath in before sighing in defeat. He closed his eyes and stood from his position at the comfy sofa and went over near her desk to sit on the chair directly in front of her.

“Hey, Let us eat at least, I am hungry! We didn’t even get chance to have nice lunch.” Law said in soft voice. Jane finally stopped typing, put the screen down and looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

“Why are you here with me Law?” She asked in tired voice that conveyed her restlessness.

“What you mean? I am your team, I am your partner. Where am I supposed to be?” He asked shrugging. He knew what she was saying. While they were on their way back to Hawkeye tower, kid had called Law for asking him out for dinner and drinks. He had a very good idea that she knew about Kid being interested in Law but he shook off the thought and acted as if he didn’t know.

“Ussop and Vivi is also my team Law. Since we entered the building Usopp is with Kaya and Vivi went with Cohza since I told her that we were done for the day! Why are you still here? Kid called you right?”

“Well, you see Kid and I are.....” Law’s statement was cut off suddenly.

The cellphone placed on Jane’s desk ringed loudly showing Shank’s number. She smiled at cell which was flashing Shank’s photo with toothy smile plastered on his face, Law noticed something in her eyes changed and she quickly swiped her thumb over screen to receive the call.

“Shanks?” She put Shanks on speaker and pulled out her tab and started doing something on it while she spoke.

“Hey! You wanna have dinner? You guys came back half hour ago right?” Shanks asked enthusiastically.

“Um, yeah we did but I don’t want to eat. I hate the cook you guys have here. I don’t feel like eating here in the tower.” She said in a serious voice and was thinking about something.

“I know that. I am asking if you wanna have dinner with me. I will cook your favorite. Come at my place.” Came the sincere voice of Shanks.

“Shanks, I was taking Law to ‘Baratie’ or may be at ‘Seven Seas’. You have been cooking for me a lot lately, I want you to come with us, Kid is also joining us.” That statement earned her an eyebrow raise from Law.

“Dear, I can’t be seen with you! It’s very risky”

“Oh! Don’t worry, get yourself disguised, you must look like what you did when we went to Seven sea’s last time, you remember that, it was almost an year back! And I am going to book a nice private  place for all of us. We won’t be noticed much.”

“Jane! I don’t know…I mean..”

“C’mon dad, it’s been a while since we went together for a dinner!” She said in childish voice. Law was so shocked at the sudden change of her demeanor, it took a simple phone call from Shanks, it worked like a miracle on her and her mood. The surprise was clearly written all over his face. If it would not have been for a serious person like law, they may have dropped their jaw to the floor listening Jane, all too workaholic, bold, sometimes scary hot and deadly Jane talking like a child with Shanks was as surprising and unbelievable as it was the very first time law had heard her talking like that with him.

“Ok! I will be there in 30.” He said in a voice that anybody would recognize that he was smiling very hard, trying to contain his happiness so he can talk.

“Ok! We are waiting.” said Jane and with that the line got disconnected.

“What was that?” Law asked with raised eyebrow.

“We are going for dinner, you are hungry right!” Jane said in casual tone.

“But…” Jane cut him off,

“I am sorry Law! I don’t know what I was thinking…...I am sorry about what I said earlier. I know you are worried about me. Thanks!” Jane said apologetically looking in Law’s deep dark eyes. Law put his chin in his hand which was rested on table.

“Don’t mention it! What are we friends are there for!” Law said with sly smile playing on his lips.

\--------------

**_At a famous hotel, named ‘Seven Seas’_ **

Shanks, Jane, Kid and Law had a nice dinner in specially arranged table in a balcony which had a nice sea shore view, there were no other tables in the area, food was awesome so was the view and atmosphere. They chatted and joked, they enjoyed best wine the restaurant had to offer. At the dinner they found out that this year, Jane’s team has been awarded the winter vacation which would be declared at the evening before Christmas. They would have a week free of work. That was bad news for Jane but she did not want to ruin dinner so she did not think much about it as it had to wait until she is back in her office. She had gotten addicted to work and did not know how she was going to survive those 7 days without anything to get herself busy into. But she dint know that Law and Shank’s already had it all planned out. It was their attempt to bring her back to her older self.

While their way back home, Shank’s bought her chocolates that would be enough to make 20 children happy at a time. Her face lit up in a huge smile looking at the bag of chocolates in Shank’s hand.

“Shank’s you are going to spoil me you know!” She said holding the very bag in her hands like child would hold the teddy bear or new toy.

“Jane-ya you are going to share them with me!” Law said just to tease her as she was in perfect mood of playing child, more like 12 year old and they all were just going to enjoy being with one.

“Hell no! You buy your own. I ain’t giving anybody a single piece!” she said in a childish voice with determined face.

Law just gave a smile at her antics, he thought ‘she seemed happy when Boss-ya was around or hearing his voice even on phone would make her relax.’

\-------------

When they reached tower, everybody entered the elevator, it stopped at 36th floor where Law and kid both got out bidding their good nights to Jane and their boss. Jane was about to press the button of her office floor when,

“Oh! No you don’t! You are coming with me!” He pulled her back from the panel and hit the button indicating the 45th.

“Shanks, please. I will be back in an hour or so, I promise.” Jane looked at him with puppy eyes.

“No, you are coming with me” He said while he pulled her close and taking a chocolate out of the wrapper and put it in his own mouth.

She sighed in defeat.

\---------------

When Mihawk entered the Shank’s apartment, there was no sound at all, living room was deserted, study was empty, monitors were off only one indicating status of every task force member and emergency alarms was on, nobody was there in Kitchen and kitchen looked like nothing has been cooked. He went to bar near living room, took out wine bottle from the stock he had been keeping in shank’s bar as he started spending time with the red head more than usual. He finally went to bedroom as he thought the Red head might have fallen asleep as the records in his system clearly showed that Shanks had returned to his apartment a while back.

He pushed the slightly open door of bedroom and found Shanks reading a book in a dim lit room with only his night lamp on. Upon entering he found that there was very light music with very low sound was playing and it was Jane’s favorite as he knew he had heard many time when he visited Jane’s apartment. He also found that Shanks was sitting in middle of his King size bed resting his back against the headboard and Jane was tucked in his blanket way up to her shoulders, she had her arms around Shank’s waist and her head resting on his stomach with a little pout on her face. Shank’s noticed Mihawk coming in and motioned him to sit beside him. There were Chocolate wrappers all scattered on the ground at the side where Jane had been sleeping in.

“You are spoiling my sister, Shanks.” Mihawk said in very low voice, careful not to wake the sleeping beauty, while putting the wine bottle on table near the bed. He took two glasses out of the drawer from the small cupboard near the table.

“C’mon, it’s not like she eats chocolates every day. She was very happy. Look she looks so peaceful like this” Shanks said caressing her head rested on his stomach. Mihawk gave Shanks a glass full of wine and sat beside him with a wine glass of his own.

“She still does that while sleeping!” Mihawk said while looking at her face.

“Yeah! That pout looks cute.” Shanks took a seep of Mihawk’s favorite wine which he too has gotten accustomed of.

“I went at her apartment; she was not in office so I thought I would meet her there when you guys came back. Should have known that she is here!” Mihawk said closing his eyes and taking seep from the glass.

They drank in silence for some time.

“I had to make her eat and made to take a sleep too! She has been up to no good these days!” Shanks said worriedly.

“Yeah! But if you look at the other side of the coin, it is good. I mean she is on fire. I have never seen anybody working like that; she may break my record at this rate.” Mihawk said swirling the last seep of liquid in his glass and looking at it while thinking back about when he was at her age.

“I don’t care about that; she needs to take care of herself. She can’t be working like a machine, I cannot allow that, she is becoming more and more secluded, she is trying to push everybody away from her, she prefers to be alone, we should be thankful to Law, the kid never quits. He is been with her in almost every case she has taken up.” Shanks said while finishing his drink.

“Yes, mother!” Mihawk said opening his eyes to look at his lover and gave a smirk when he saw Shank’s eyebrow twitch at his statement. Mihawk put the glass on the table by stretching his arm a little. Shanks narrowed his eyes on the golden eyed man but did not say anything in response to his taunt.

“So, you took good care if Jane, now what about me! Are we doing it while she still sleeping with her cheek on your stomach?” asked Mihawk getting closer to the Redhead. In a second, their face was centimeters apart and that made Shanks blush. Shanks' hand which was on Jane’s head came up, rested onto MIhawks chest to keep him at good distance but he beat him to it.

“Mihawk!” Shank’s whispered yelled before Mihawk captured Redheads lips in a gentle but passionate kiss. Shanks was stiff at first, knowing Jane would get up if he moved the slightest. He managed to kiss Mihawk back without moving much. Mihawk put an arm around Shanks and came yet closer, adjusting his neck a little he deepened the kiss. He took a glass back from the Redhead and kept it on table stretching his hand without breaking the kiss. He then raised himself a little and cupped his face while nibbling on fleshy pad of Redhead's lower lip, that granted him an entrance and he explored the very well-known mouth of his lover with his tongue till their lungs gave out for the need of oxygen. They waited touching their foreheads on each other’s to catch the breath.

“This is torcher….[breathing heavily]….I mean I can’t move freely and you would do whatever you want!” whispered Shank’s with a pouting.

“Well, not my problem!! On second thought, I am going to enjoy this. C’mon now, slide down.” Mihawk said giving him a smirk.

Shanks knew whatever Mihawk had in mind, he would enjoy that as much as the golden eyed man would and he was actually in love with the way Mihawk would get all impatient or sometimes even kinky while being intimate.

Shanks tried not to move Jane much and just slid down so that he could get into comfy sleeping position and tried to put his head on pillow, he just moved a little to adjust the pillow and gently lifted Jane’s head while trying to turn on his side but she instinctively grabbed him from back side and now clinging on to his back firmly while placing her cheek on his shoulder she snuggled closer to him so as not to fall out of the bed, break her sleep and put hands around his stomach now.

“I am so dead!” Shanks said closing his eyes when he lay there now on his side, with Jane clung on his back and Mihawk facing him. Mihawk was on his side, looking at Shanks resting his head on his palm and smirking happily at Shanks' awkward position. It was best for Mihawk, he could kiss, even touch Shanks, except for his ass of course but Shanks couldn’t so much as to move himself or to moan in response. Mihawk was so going to enjoy this.

Mihawk kissed him passionately everywhere he could for what felt like hours till his satisfaction while fighting all the silent protests Shanks was doing with his hands, Mihawk even touched Shanks’s half hard member through the fabric of his pajamas which was getting wet, earning him slight whimpers from the Redhead. After what felt like an eternity Shanks was relived of all the sweet torcher when Mihawk finally kissed him good night and took in embrace both Shanks and his sister clinging to his lovers back.

Shanks also put his arm around Mihawk and buried his face in his chest taking in his musky scent and worshiping the slumber to come but he remained up for long. He was in arms of his lover and his daughter was dangerously close to them, he was worried what reaction they would get from Jane when she wakes up in the morning from the very much needed sleep Shanks had made her take. It was the first time he was in such a situation where he did not know what to do with the people he loved most in the whole word were in his bed; he knew it was quite awkward for children to find that their parents just had sex. He was up for long time while he could here low snores of his lover, his heart beating rhythmically and could feel even and calm breathing of his daughter on his back, but it could not lull him to sleep.

\--------------------


	3. Love or mere an attraction?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji is sanji and Zoro is obsessed with him!  
> For how long Zoro can bear Sanji's rude treatment towards him!  
> Zoro thinks, if he is really involved inthe blond or what exactly is his feelings for him, he becomes more unsure of his heart when he meets a certain girl!

****

**_In past, few weeks ago…._ **

Sanji woke up with a dangerous headache, he blinked to make his sleep go away, he felt his eyelids heavy, he could not think straight for quite some time. The environment was warm, he felt cozy and he noticed that it was dawn and his body clock had just made him wake up early in the morning. He opened eyes for good this time and looked around turning his head, it was quite dark and he could feel himself very tired and troubled,

‘This is not my bed! I had date with Porsche san last night! Where am I? Oh! My head hurts!’ was Sanji's thoughts when he tried to recall what had happened and tried to figure out where he was. Then the memories of last night started coming back slowly and his head started to get clearer and his eyes went wide at the memory of what had happened,

He had waited for 2 hours for her and she had not shown up. He had gone to her place only to find that her ex-boyfriend who apparently had come back and she had ditched Sanji for the day. Disappointed he had gone to Brook’s, drank to his heart's content and danced, flirted with girls there to ease his suffering, to hid his embarrassment. He then had found Zoro sitting alone, drinking down his beer in silence. He was little more than tipsy by the time he met Zoro.

‘Shit! Am I at his place?’ His eyesight now got adjusted to room’s darkness. He really was not in his bed but he was in none other than Zoro’s bed. He lifted up a blanket a little and gave a shrill cry as he found himself completely naked under covers and he had his waist covered with a tanned muscular arm, he turned back to find Zoro still snoring on his pillow, spooning him from behind. His anger was beyond limits now,

“How dare you Moss-head! Let go off me!” yelled Sanji as he harshly grabbed Zoro’s arm as if it was something disgusting to hold in his precious hands and threw it away. Zoro was awake now but he did not see cook turn. He kicked Zoro out of his own bed and Zoro fell on the ground but he put his hands on the ground and recovered from the fall. Sanji stood up and started putting on clothes, Zoro was in his boxers.

“What is it Sanji! Why you always do that?” Zoro asked in hoarse voice, rubbing the skin of his stomach which had been hit by Sanji's foot ruthlessly and trying to contain his rage.

“What you mean what is it? How dare you make me sleep with you?” Sanji yelled at Zoro, venom dripping from his words. Zoro’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at his choice of words.

“It’s is not like that! We did not do anything!” Zoro said in a low and angry voice.

“Like hell we didn’t, I would never ever do anything with likes of you anyways! I was drunk! How dare you take advantage of me?” Sanji took his bare foot and threw a kick to Zoro’s guts after jumping across the bed. Zoro gripped his foot and pushed him away. He put his hands in surrender pose to make Sanji stop playing a Sawate match in the early morning.

“Look shitty-cook! I did not take advantage of you! Everything is alright! Its 4:30 in the morning, can we go back to sleep now!” said Zoro bored with the attitude Sanji was talking to him. Sanji greeted his teeth and took his foot off the ground, raised it to take a fighting stance again.

“I am so gonna kill you Stupid _Marimo_! How dare you touch me!” he said putting his hand on bed to bend down and kicking Zoro in the face which Zoro avoided by putting a palm in the trajectory and threw Sanji off balance, Sanji fell on the bed. Zoro backed off few steps,

“Hey! Sanji! Give me a break ok! You came to me, you told me to take you home, you started stripping your clothes and you ripped my clothes off too. You practically shoved your dick in my mouth, you made me suck you off and then you slept in my bed, I did not do anything!” Zoro yelled at the man he loved since school days.

“I don’t believe it! Go to hell! And even if I did that, what you think that I am your bitch now! Forget it Asshole! I was not in my right mind. I never would have spared a glance at you, you directionally-challenged-log-brain!” Sanji snarled getting up and putting shirt on and taking his suit jacket buttoning it up. Zoro was annoyed, so fucking annoyed that he hated himself for falling for the blonde,

“Get the fuck out of my house, right now!” Zoro said in low growling voice.

“Who wants to stay in your shitty place?” Sanji said acting all cool and ran away shutting the door with a loud bang.

Zoro threw himself on the bed carelessly, he gave a sigh and tried to get back to sleep but he could not sleep. The thoughts of the blonde were disturbing him. He did not know how he always ended up in the situation like this. In spite of the treatment, he was not letting his obsession over this Blondie go.

‘It all had started back in school days, Luffy somehow had managed to put up the group of all different people together, we had nothing in common but we were always together no matter what. Luffy, Nami, me, Sanji, Usopp, chopper! We were not friends back then, hell we could not stand each other, I couldn’t look at him, I hated him like anything! Or at least I thought so. We always fought, bickered, always at eachothers’ throats, but it all changed when I found out why I actually was always angry at him. I hated when he threw himself at Nami’s feet! I hated it when he acted like the flirt all the time; I wanted him to notice me!’

‘He never considered me! Never given me any importance! But that day at Johny and Yosaku’s place, he got all drunk and when he kissed me, I couldn’t get enough of him, I got obsessed with those lips, his golden blond hair, his eyes, his body against mine everything was perfect! Why would not he notice me! He still annoys me like hell! Che! That day I understood why I felt like that. May be he made me gay! I didn’t know how it works but I have never liked anybody like that, not a boy nor a girl! I never felt this way but I don't want to feel this way for him anymore!’

Zoro kept thinking and that took his slumber away! He liked sleeping, he loved taking naps and he could have slept all day if nobody was to disturb him! But he could not sleep now that some blonde has pissed him off early in the morning. He woke up, took a bath and got dressed for the Job. He locked is apartment and took his bike to make his way to Division in SWAT GLPD, Grand line Police Department.  

 **_About a month and half before Lucci’s_** **_disappearance_ **

Smoker and Zoro were in there black bulletproof armored SUV, Zoro was on driving seat and they were their way back to the Division after having a long boring day. They were discussing about the football match,

“Man! This sucks! We went through all the trouble of putting up a new team, looking for good candidates, training them and that Hawkeye’s brats hog all the action. And we sit on asses praising them, our kin lack in both work and woman! Tsk!” he threw what was left of his cigar out of his mouth through open window, “We have to settle for a beer and the ball match”

“Yeah Sargent, I just want to go and sit in front of TV with beer cans in my lap. We had a hell of a day!” Zoro said switching on his portable radio.

“Yeah! You know what, you are quite good at this all and you are young! Why don’t you find a right job and fine good woman? SWAT was the most reputed and efficient police division of all but now-a-days the brasses sit in their in AC offices and just chew us out! Damned politics! I know you did hard work to reach here but..”

Their conversation ended up with the radio shouting about the gunfire,

“We have a possible 211 in the Valley trust Bank, 15th street and at the M-mile. We have shots fired, I repeat, we have shot fired!” some officer reported.

“All, units, Officer Needs assistance” A women said from back at the headquarters, “15th street, north of the M-Mile, Valley trust bank. Shots have been fired” She said.

“We need heavy duty Vehicle! We are pinned down by Automatic gun fire.” Different voice came this time.

“20L”-“10L advice, do you need some heavy machinery?”

“They have got automatic weapons on them! Nothing we have can stop them!” Yet another officer reported. And the radio conversations were going on back and forth,

Zoro tuned the SUV back and increased the speed to hit the high way faster so that they were headed to the Bank which has been getting robbed. Smoker raised an eyebrow at Zoro, 'being on right track, and actually on right path without being given any directions was rare for Zoro, the police was not handling the situation any good but the SWAT had not yet been informed, it was Zoro’s habit to trace what is going on in the city with the help of police radios. From the radio conversations it was clear that there were more than 4 police vehicles and more than 8 officers engaging the suspects.

“Be advised there are two to three suspects inside.” Woman form headquarters said to the ones approaching the site.

“Shots being fired” “Shots being fired” Policemen was shouting.

“Suspects sighted.” Another officer yelled.

“Suspects heavily armed and wearing body armor. Get more officers.” they hears gun firing bullets hitting,

“Officer down! Officer down!” an officer yelled.

“Requesting SWAT. Code three!” Smoker snorted at the comment and lit another cigar while Zoro smirked at the radio.

Suddenly the blast was heard and radio went cold after giving the shrill noise. The woman from Headquarters was continuously trying to contact the officers but no response was received.

“Damn it all!!” Smoker yelled.

.

.

.

They all reached the Bank to find all the suspects tied with their hands behind their backs, their mouths were taped shut while all of the three were blindfolded and helplessly tied by their legs to the police van which had a Hawkeye mark left painted on the bonnet, their weapons thrown away in a pile with the magazines taken away and safety lock in place. Policemen were chatting with each other and relaxing.

Zoro was surprised but he went over to them and checked if they were safe, the two officers who had been shot were being taken into the ambulance and situation was already taken care of. Zoro noticed that Smoker was pissed beyond limits. He asked an officer what happened,

“Sargent Smoker, Corporal Zoro, they were the Enigma’s, the 18th unit in Hawkeye’s task force. Apparently Bank manager’s wife called them after watching it all on the News, they fried our radios. And sir, SHE was there! There was no mistaking it, they had their faces covered but we could tell, her green jacket with Hawkeye symbol and that 18E written on their car.” He said smiling brightly.

'Those Hawkeyes again?' thought Zoro suspiciously,

“Fools! What the hell are you all grinning for?” Smoker yelled at the officer whose face now drained of all the colors and he had raised his hands in air defensively, he immediately backed off.         

“Sir, it was like the movies, they were so fast. She did not even use a gun. They really are something! Eeh?” another one said with scared face,

“Who the hell is SHE they all are talking about? Who came and didn’t even use gun to fight against AK-47’s?” asked Zoro all confused, folding his hands on his chest.

“Tsk! Roronoa! lets go back, I will tell ya what these bozo’s are talking about!” Smoker said and turned on his hill and went to sit in the car.

“Yes, Sir” Zoro was confused but followed the order none the less.

“Damn you Jane! Damn you!!” Smoker yelled and sighed in defeat and Zoro was more confused now.

\-------------------------------------------

While on way back, Smoker told Zoro about the famous team of the company Hawkeye security Systems and the some known people from the Hawkeye task force, police had some information on them but it was not much to go on and they were not only great and reliable help to the society but they easily solved impossible looking cases. On many occasions even police and military sought their help. Zoro was impressed at the tale and though that it would be interesting to find about these people. Zoro had joined in GLPD SWAT just few months back but his special skills with swords and knifes, his fighting abilities in hand-to-hand combat and his high sprite and morality made him stand out and get into the Elite Unit so he climbed up ranks real fast and had become Smoker’s favorite student and friend.

Zoro went home on his Suzuki TU250X after fueling and returning the SUV in the division. He went to his apartment and asked his Neighbor who apparently was his best friend since school days, Luffy and his elder brother Ace to come over his place for the Foot Ball match and beer. While they were watching the match, Luffy and Ace went to sleep before the Game could end. Zoro however could not leave the ball for mere sleep and food, football was his favorite and he would never leave a single detail out for any reason. But apparently Zoro too had something which he considered important that his so called favorite Football match.

When in the next half, the game had become quite exciting; Zoro’s apartment door banged violently,

“Shuutup and go away!” Zoro yelled from his seat in front of TV never taking his eyes off the TV. The banging did not stop, Zoro got pissed and he got up to opened the door.

In the door was Drunk Sanji, the famous and rich Baratie chef, Handsome, Lean muscular physique and why not he was a very skilled kick-boxer, tall about 5 feet 9, fair skin, golden blond hair, some strands of which covered nearly half of his face, ever present cigarette in mouth, weird spiral eyebrows which surprisingly suited him well. He was leaning on the door frame. Zoro was surprised to see him standing at his doorstep at this hour, it was not that Sanji had never been there before, but he had never come to his place without either Zoro’s pleading or the group’s parties. Zoro got worried over his crush of a blond cook and pulled him inside the house, but Sanji batted his hand away and walked on his own away from Zoro. He suddenly stopped, turned on his heels and walked back over to Zoro, he stood now face to face with him and started staring at Zoro with his one visible blue eye.

“Sanji? Is everything all right! You look a little…” Zoro could not complete his sentence as Sanji started yelling with his hands in air.

“Of courrrrse moss head, everrrrything is so perfect! My date went away with another man! Life is so perrrrfect; she left me for that brrrrown haired, short, pudgy bastard! Everything is just fine!” Zoro face palmed and tried to shush the drunk and noisy Blondie.

“You are drunk!!” Zoro said in serious and scolding tone.

“NO, just a little tipsy! So, you having anybody over? Can I come in!” He said in smoky voice. Zoro felt a shiver running down his spine at Cook's seductive face.

“Yeah! Of course, I was watching Game. You hungry?” Zoro now put his hand over Sanji’s shoulders and made him come in. He knew that Blonde could not handle his liquor and in his right mind he never would have allowed Zoro’s such a caring behavior towards him or even his small touches and gestures but Zoro could not help himself from comforting the tipsy cook.

“I am not eating any of those shitty ‘takeaways’ of yours!”  Sanji said, he always had been demanding irrespective of the situation he is in.

Zoro knew better than to ask the Chef of THE _Baratei_ to have any of takeaways that Zoro had as dinner but he did no cooking for himself especially after he had bad work day. He took the Blonde to the kitchen, made him sit on chair near the small dining table; Sanji was observing Zoro keenly,

“Hey, I don’t cook daily. Hell, I don’t even get time!” Zoro said while he took eggs in his hands and showed them to the blonde asking if he would like to have a ‘Zoro special Omelet’! Blonde nodded and glanced at the living, he saw Luffy sleeping and drooling over the big pillow and Ace’s feet, Ace was asleep on the floor, snoring his lungs out, the man could sleep anywhere and eat anything as long as given some edible things. Hell, Luffy was not different than his brother!

“Luffy and Ace hun!!” Sanji asked raising his spiral eyebrow _or may be both eyebrows who knew anyways!_ :P

Sanji put his head down on the table and closed his eyes for a minute then lifted his head again and typed something on his mobile phone and smiled while Zoro mixed the eggs and whatever veggies or something he had chopped for the omelet, he put pan on the stove and turned back so as to face Sanji while saying

“Yeah! We were supposed to be watching the Game but ..”

Zoro felt warm and soft lips on his own, he stood there bewildered, ‘Sanji was kissing him!’

He did not even notice when blonde had gotten off the chair and made his way to Zoro. He was surprised; he had wide eyes and he waited deciding whether to kiss back or not!

‘Damn it all!!’ though Zoro.

He shoved all the disturbing thoughts at back of his mind and he put his arm around Sanji’s waist, pulled him up a little and put his other hand at back of Sanji’s neck to kiss him properly. Sanji himself kissing him this passionately was like being in heaven for Zoro, he took in the taste of Whiskey from Sanji’s Lips, he breathed in the fruity smell of Sanji. The kiss was clumsy and Sanji was biting Zoro’s lips. Zoro parted his lips to give Sanji entrance in his mouth, Sanji shoved his tongue inside Zoro’s carven and tongue slid against tongue, lips clasped onto each other’s perfectly. Zoro gave a growl when Sanji rubbed himself against Zoro, touching his half hard erection which made Sanji moan in the kiss. This was not the type of kiss Zoro would have given to the one he craved for many years but Sanji was leading the kiss at the moment, Zoro knew better that to ruin the opportunity now that he was getting kissed by the blonde himself.

Sanji was helplessly clinging on Zoro and trying to climb onto him sneaking his arms around Zoro’s neck, their lungs screamed for air and they broke the kiss but Sanji started kissing Zoro’s neck still breathing heavily between the wet kisses he left on tanned skin of Zoro’s strong muscles, Zoro tuned off the stove and lifted Sanji from ground and put him on table getting between his legs and pulling Sanji towards himself by grasping his hips. Sanji pulled the white t-shirt over Zoro’s head to reveal the perfectly toned sexy torso Zoro had. Sanji slid his tongue over Zoro’s perfect chest licking it from the half way up to the collar bone earning a low growl from Zoro. Zoro cupped Sanji’s face with his large warm hands and started the Kiss this time, this was supposed to be intimate and romantic but Sanji fluttered closed his eyes and started using his teeth on Zoro’s lips again, Zoro pulled out form the kiss with a hiss which made Sanji gave out a loud whimper,

“Umm! Kiss me! ….. [pant]….Roger Please! Babe! Please I know you want this, I will let you have me, please kiss me!” Sanji purred as he brought his face closer to Zoro’s. Sanji had his eyes closed and his voice was smoky and seductive, he was pulling Zoro towards him by putting his hand behind Zoro’s neck,

Those words annoyed Zoro to no end, ‘Was he kissing me thinking he was kissing some Roger? Shitt!!!’ Zoro got it again, got fooled again. He was happy for a minute there but he should have known better than that…

“Kiss me!” Sanji said in a very tempting voice, taking Zoro’s face in his hands, his visible eye lidded more than halfway through, Zoro had to fight back an urge to kiss the blonde because he was being insulted there. That's right! He was being fucking humiliated...... again ! Just like he had been........ many times before,

Zoro just took Sanji’s hands in his own and put them away from his face. Sanji whimpered and tried to get Zoro closer but he simply bruised Zoro with his nails. Zoro closed his eyes, reluctantly put some distance between them, Zoro looked away gritting his teeth,

“Why? When I am ready to love you, why you do that? Do I mean nothing for you?” whispered Zoro with frustrated and angry tone, Sanji could have barley heard it, may be he could really have if he was in his right mind. Zoro' s head was bent down, glaring at the ground while he sighed in annoyance and his face was being pulled up to the blonde he craved so much for, but Zoro wouldn't budge.

“What the hell are you saying? Kiss me right now!” Sanji yelled and gripped Zoro’s hair to make him look at him. Zoro took his hand out of his hair and put it away from himself. Zoro put a considerable distance between them and backed off a little and closed his eyes, his scowl deepened further before he spoke in irritated tone.     

“Sanji look you know it’s not like that I don’t like you, in fact, it’s the other way round but I don’t want you complaining in the morning that I used you. While the fact is you came to my place, all drunk and pissed, you ruined my football game, you kissed me passionately and tomorrow you will blame me for kissing back! So you are going to go to bed and I…” Sanji didn’t even listen to him but fall asleep on the table with a thud that made Zoro open his eyes and give a sigh. He picked up Sanji in his arms and went in the bedroom, placed him on the bed and tucked him in a blanket. Sanji gripped Zoro’s arm and tried to pull the green head near him. Zoro jerked his hand away, walked away to shut the door behind him without glancing at the blonde again. He came back to the Living for his remaining Football Game.

Zoro was sick and tired of his own heart, always aching for the blonde. He was watching the game but was not paying any attention anymore and from the looks of it, his favorite team was going to lose as it is. He was used to this kind of treatment form Sanji. Sanji never noticed him, never considered Zoro as a lover. Zoro had always been the last option for Sanji, having Zoro around and spending time with Zoro was the last resort for the cook. Sanji only noticed women, and women loved Sanji for he was charming, considerate, helping and spending hell lot of money on them. And Zoro, he was loner, anti social, poor, obsessed with sword, his lifestyle was far too methodical and orthodox for the rich chef. Sanji flirted with every single one of the girls around him, he was a perfect ladies-man, girls apparently never got tired of his flirting and he also seemed to enjoy this every fucking day. Sanji had a date nearly every day; he could even have two dates a day. He was a famous and handsome chef and he quite seemed to like the way life was for him, he never considered otherwise.

Zoro felt like Sanji had been using him but then he used to think that he himself allowed everything Sanji wanted to do with him, never protested like he did today, never asked for him to be serious about him, hell……. he never made any move. Zoro knew that Sanji was not a single-woman-man or single-man-man or whatever it is called. Zoro always asked Sanji out on a date and Sanji just laughed it off saying ‘knock it off Moss head, I have better things to do that to date mossbrain!’ but It seemed that Sanji enjoyed whatever time Zoro got Sanji spending around him, they kissed, watched movies and played video games, even occasionally gotten a little intimate, Zoro never minded sucking Sanji off on desperate nights like this one, but now-a-days he had gotten tired of his behavior he used to think that he have had enough of this. Because after all this, Zoro would get blame of being brute who got Sanji drunk and got him to spend time with him and made him stay overnight and whatnot. Zoro wanted to love Sanji with all his heart but never got a chance.

\-------------------

Sanji woke up with headache; he was alone in bed which was rare case for Sanji. He recognized the room as Zoro’s bedroom, he hissed at the headache when he sat up in bed. He found a water bottle on the table near the bed. He stretched his hand and drank the whole bottle of water, he suddenly felt the urge to empty his belly so got up and ran to bathroom for the very task. He then washed his face, cleaned it dry with towel and made his way to the Living while wiping his face and hands. Zoro was asleep in the loveseat in his living in front of TV which was still on and playing the News, Luffy and Ace were nowhere to be found. Zoro had a noisy portable radio unit lying on his coffee table near TV remote along with the SWAT Pager.

Sanji went to the Kitchen and started cleaning it and making Coffee to help his headache. The pager started beeping and made Zoro wake up. He called the office to confirm the News and got up from his seat. He noticed that Sanji was in Kitchen and went there.

“Hey! You ok now!?” Zoro asked taking a glass full of water from the tap and drinking after he looked at Sanji with permanent Scowl that he always had on his face.

“Yeah! Have a Headache though! Breakfast?” Sanji asked in tired voice while avoiding looking at him.

“Nah! gotta go! I will have it in the Office!  When you are done, lock the Apartment and place the key under that old mat outside Luffy’s door!” Zoro said while going back the way he came in kitchen and finding his radio, pager, keys and all other items scattered around Living and getting ready for the office.

“Would you drop me at my place?” Sanji asked yelling from Kitchen.

“Ok! Hurry then.” Zoro yelled back going to the bedroom; it was very rare for them to have a normal conversation like that when Sanji spent some time at Zoro’s. Usually they ended up quarreling and fighting over unimportant things, discussing insignificant details like a couple having their little domestic, Sanji blaming nonsense on Zoro, Zoro yelling ‘He does not care about anything anymore’ , sometimes loud bangs on door or may be some fist fights and kicks from Sanji. But this day was quite abnormal.

\------------------------------------------------

After about a month, same thing happened with Zoro and Sanji, Sanji was having a date but ended up upsetting the girl somehow and Sanji went to the bar where he knew he could find the whole group together. Sure enough he found Nami, Luffy, Law, Ace, Zoro, Brook, Usopp, Kaya, Cohza and Vivi there in the bar, enjoying the drinks and the dance. Sanji was more than happy to join them; he flirted with girls there and found another date for the night. When he returned to the group with an arm around the girl’s waist, Zoro was nowhere to be found. Normally Zoro shot taunts at Sanji for he always kept flirting and acting all stupid, ‘falling all over himself’ as Zoro used to say and they used to get into rather enjoyable dual of either verbal fight or a real fight. But that day he just took off without even sparing a second glance at him.

\---------------------------------------

Sanji had noticed the change in Zoro’s behavior lately and he could not find out why he himself was bothered by it. He should have had been happy that he finally was facing less taunts and spending less time in fighting his rival and he got more timing with his precious girls. ………..

One morning before winter months started, it was Nami’s birthday that day and the whole group had decided to plan a party for her so they decided to meet up at _Baratie_ in morning for breakfast as Sanji could not leave the restaurant.  Zoro however could not be there as he had a case to work on so he said he would not be coming for the meeting but he would manage to come to the party itself and he would also help in any way if he could. They all met in the Baratie and planned a nice party for Nami at Luffy’s place and it was decided that Zoro and Sanji had to bring the Cake that Sanji would bake in the restaurant along with the all the food for the Party while others had to manage the decorations and gifts and Brook would manage the booze and music.

That evening when Zoro returned the Black SWAT SUV and took bike to head to Baratie he somewhere took a wrong turn, got somewhat lost heading up in the wrong direction which was not unusual and also his bike suddenly broke up in the middle of the road. He somehow managed to avoid the accident and struggled to find a proper place to park it, he called his friend from the division, an officer named Tashigi and told her to make someone collect his bike. He then walked for 15 minutes now totally getting lost.

Zoro got a call from Sanji; he got pissed just by looking at the number displayed on the screen. Zoro knew that for him it would require more time that usual to reach the place so he had left earlier than he should have but his bike did the number on his plans and now he would have to keep up with the blonde’s bitching! He picked up the call and,

“Hey stupid Moss head, Where the hell are you! Don’t tell me you are lost as usual!” Sanji’s voice was dripping with poison of hatred. That used to piss Zoro of to no end, ‘Can’t he talk like normal person? I mean he talks just fine with every other man in our group, Ace, Luffy, Brook, Franky and everybody. Why the hell I have to listen him bitching at all the times for God’s sake!’ Zoro thought.

“Shuuupt curly brow, I am not lost, my bike broke up all of a sudden and these damn buildings keep deceiving me, they all look the same”, Zoro yelled at Sanji.

"Yeah?"

“Look! I am near some National Park, here, ……………… I guess”

“Moss for brains, today is my Nami swan’s birthday and if you mess up today, I am sure I am going to kill you. How come a cop can get lost in the very city he lives in! Who, just who in the world would select an idiot like you to be a SWAT Officer who does not even know how to navigate in his own city…… ” Sanji said gritting his teeth. Zoro could feel his overflowing and burning love for Nami through the phone call. He imagined the face Sanji must be making while Sanji was saying all that.

‘What! Should have I been born a lady for Sanji to notice me! Goddamn it! Why am I like this? Why can’t I like girls?? Why all the girls in the universe are so damn pathetic! I hate it when they hit on me. I mean, I also can find dates like Sanji does, I am hotter than him! Che!’ Zoro thought while Sanji was babbling something about his Nami.

“I know, I know damn it, I don’t even have any money to take a cab! Only have my cell, a pager and radio, Damn! Luffy took my wallet yesterday!” Zoro exclaimed looking for any cash he might have in his jacket or pockets in his pants.

“Not my problem shit head, you have 30 minutes to get here, we will have to make it on time! Now get your stupid ass over here you slowpoke!” Sanji said and hanged up before Zoro could reply.

Zoro called Smoker and found that he was sitting in a meeting with Division’s brass, Tashigi was very far from the city and he just wanted somebody to give him a lift and drop him off at the Damned Baratie. He was running what people may have said ‘aimlessly’ as he was actually running in circles for about 5 to 6 minutes, which he didn’t even notice.

He finally thought of taking a turn somewhere and he was found by a large road and a traffic signal lights. He looked for any police car or any Black-and –white for that matter so that he could ask for help. He came near the Signal lights pole. Zoro’s attention was suddenly caught by a tall guy with a Big and Cool Gray Jacket and Black Jeans with nice black sport shoes and a Black helmet and strikingly hot pair of Green Bike Glows, ‘My type of guy!!’ Zoro thought.

The hot stranger was riding a Black MV Agusta,

‘Holy shit, its Agusta F4 and its custom painted. Look at all those accessories! And Fuck! That’s a Hawkeye sign! I can sure ask his help.’ Zoro thought.

He went over to the guy, conveniently enough for Zoro, the biker was waiting for the traffic light to turn green and was near the very end Zoro was standing on. ‘Well I bet everybody must have noticed him, it’s not me only! Right! I mean He is hot as hell!’ Zoro though making his way over the stranger to ask his help.

“Dude, please drop me off at the _Baratie_ down the next road _,_ Please!” Zoro asked waving his hands.

The biker face-palmed for some reason and motioned him to sit on passenger’s seat behind him, Zoro was happy that he finally got a help and he would reach the place in time, He also noticed the small fancy J written in Silver paint on the guy’s helmet. Zoro put left hand on the guys left shoulder to balance the weight and threw his leg on opposite side to sit on the passenger’s seat of his favorite bike. He could feel the strong muscles of the guy while he touched his shoulder, when Zoro sat he could not help but notice at the said biker’s nice and perfect ass, this was a first time he was checking out some guy other than Sanji. The signal Light went green and the guy slightly bent forward, till then Zoro had not realized that he had not yet taken his hand off the guy’s shoulder. He reluctantly pulled away and bent backwards to get a nice and clean view of the guy’s ass while the man bent forward to accelerate and change the gear.

‘Man! That is so hot! Am I really that desperate! I am checking out a stranger’s ass now!’ Zoro thought. 

‘This guy is obviously taller than Sanji, may be stronger than him. Sanji always has this sweet fruity smell around him but this guy………’

Zoro bent forward unconsciously to take in the attractive guy’s smell, the man on the bike smelled woodsy, it was a knock-out scent. Zoro could not make out what it exactly was, he smelled forest and woods, moist greenery.

Zoro closed his eyes and let the stranger’s scent take his mind over. Zoro felt as if he was like floating in the air, but too soon for Zoro’s liking, he was taken out of his dreamy state of mind when he felt jerk and his chest collided with the strong yet lean back of the hot stranger who was helping Zoro. He opened eyes to find out that they were passing through a downtown area and were actually coming down a large, long staircase and around the area where homeless people had made their home, a run down a bridge and rail track on one side and a fence on other.

‘Damn this J guy is good rider!’ They were out of that shitty area in seconds, he managed to keep it brief and fast while avoiding any traffic on the main road. Within minutes they were on a familiar road now, Zoro knew that road would lead to Baratie and he took out his card and messily wrote a personnel number on it.

Zoro knew he was cheating on his mind, telling he must not give up on Sanji but he just could not help himself, he wanted to know this hot stranger.  

‘I have to know you stranger! I will find you out Mr. J, everything about you is perfect! Cool bike, tall, strong and lean body, unreal blue and cool eyes, attractive woodsy smell, fair skin, perfect roman nose, blond hair though I can’t make out exactly how long they are but you are quite unique! You are awesome with bikes, Fuck! You are awesome with roads, you know the place like your backyard, you are Hawkeye personnel so you may as well be an agent! Just perfect! Hawkeye Agent with Custom made Agusta! Now how many times am I going to get a chance like this one?’ Zoro was thinking and thinking….

The bike stopped in front of Baratie, Zoro knew he could not talk much with this guy, he was never type to flirt or you know! The one who would talk his way into somebody’s life. He would find about the J guy later, ‘I can’t talk something stupid and ruin everything; best way is to give my number. Hope he will call, I would find everything about you stranger! I know your bike number and I have you photo, though from backside but I have it, I have very good idea how you look though.’ Zoro said in mind while getting off the bike and touching the guys other shoulder for one more time.

“Thanks dude. Name is Zoro. You really saved me from lot of bitching, I owe you one. This is my card. I will sure help ya when ya need me, bye.”  Zoro managed to blur out before he hurried inside the Baratie.

He went inside and sat on the usual table where Luffy and the group would seat as it was empty as it is. He started typing into his cell phone the information about the guy he has and trying to find the identity of the man who helped him here. He thought he should give a call to the division and asked somebody to find him the guy using the Servers there. He was about to call Tashigi when Blond saw Zoro and came rushing over him,

“Well that is a surprise; you actually made it in time! How the hell did you do it? I mean the way you were telling me about the buildings and the national Park, when you called you were at good 40 minutes distance from here, how come you are here in, like what, 30 minutes? Did a big Hawk lift you up in air and drop you here! Hun!! I had thought it would take an hour for you to show your face here!”

That made Zoro smirk and he was laughing his head off in his mind at Sanji’s perfect analogy. He really felt like he was flying back then……

“Can I get some beer?” Zoro asked ignoring him completely; he knew Sanji does not want anything good happening to Zoro anyways.

“NO! What is wrong with you Stupid! Wait for 10 minutes; we will go to Luffy’s after Ace calls. You are only going to get coffee.” Yelling that Sanji went away while stomping his feet and Zoro started searching for the hot biker

After some vigorous searching he found that there were in fact many people in the city that had the same bike as the guy but number didn’t match to any records he had, the police and SWAT did not have any records of Hawkeye employees either. He still was searching eagerly while Sanji came back to _bother_ him again,

“Hey Moss head, get up. This table has been booked by this beautiful lady.” Sanji said pointing his hand to somebody Zoro didn’t care to look at, all he wanted was some peace and information about the hot biker.

Sanji got pissed at Zoro’s ignorance; he bent down to whisper in Zoro’s ear “You can come to the kitchen anyways.”

Zoro was tired of being treated like this by Sanji, he snapped his head up and saw the very man he was searching about was standing near Sanji but

‘Wait! Something is wrong with this picture! Same Gray Jacket, same black perfect fit jeans, same Shoes, Same black Helmet with J written on it and same green hand glows, same blue eyes, same roman nose but Biker was a woman??’ Zoro swallowed hard unknowingly and found his throat suddenly very dry. Zoro was speechless; he just stared at the site of woman holding the helmet and was stood up in his position all shocked and confused.

It was indeed a beautiful girl behind that helmet’s slightly blackened glass cover and inside that cool jacket. Those were slim and slender hands of a girl inside those manly glows. The girl was slightly taller than Sanji but exactly as tall as Zoro, a perfectly well built body, true athletic physique, very bright blue eyes, neatly braided long golden blond hair which went hidden while running down to the waist inside Jacket through the collars which were all up, milky white skin, beautiful straight nose and slim long hips, she was stunning.

‘Wait! What? She is stunning!! It was ok that I checked out a guy other than Sanji but what in the hell!!!! This may be the first time I had noticed a girl like that!!!! Was not I ‘not straight’??’ Zoro thought.

Before he could knew what he was doing Zoro got up and went over her, his body acted on its own without his permission, he did not know what was happening to him. It was like he was outside his body and could see his own body acting on its accord. Zoro waved his hand like an Idiot or _Zoro would prefer to say_ ‘Like Sanji’….. to get her attention,

“Hey!” the girl was looking past them at some guy with black gotei. Sanji was confused how Zoro knew some girl that Sanji did not. ‘I mean what girl would know Zoro if they are not friends with either him or the rest of the group and those who were not a cop’ Sanji thought. Sanji’s expressions were unreadable, what was he confused, jealous, angry, surprised!!

“Hey! Miss cool bike!!” Zoro said unconsciously smirking. She still did not pay any attention to any of the boys. Sanji came near Zoro and was trying to tell him to back off with his hands and an angry eye.

“Hey!! It’s me! We met minutes ago!” Zoro said waving a palm in front of her face earning the spiral eyebrow raise. She finally looked at Zoro straight in the eye. Zoro did not know what happened but he suddenly stood straight and smirk on his face disappeared. Zoro felt like a bolt of electricity passed through his body when those bright blue orbs met his green. He was taken inside them; he felt something he could not describe.

“Yeah! What is it?” She asked and tilted her head ever so slightly at his blank face. Zoro heard her voice but it took him some seconds to sink in the words she spoke, he felt he was being pinned to the vey ground he was standing on. Her voice was sharp and curt, nothing like shrill, high pitched and thin voices like all the typical girls’ voices sound, her voice sounded calm and modulated and he suddenly felt self-conscious, ‘What the hell is happening! I am Roronoa Fucking Zoro! Why I am feeling this way? That too because of some woman!’

“You helped me, you dropped me here. Man! You have a nice bike. I have never seen girls driving like that. I did not even notice that you were a girl, Geez, I mean …” Zoro was literally blurting out…...Since when Zoro, THE Roronoa Zoro did that? ……..

Sanji gave him a jab in the guts for insulting a girl, and that too in Sanji’s presence, Sanji was their protector, a faithful knight, a prince charming for all women in the world but what he did not know was it was no ordinary women standing in front of them, Jane Jaraquille was no damsel in distress, she had power and brains to bring them to their knees right then and there, she was star agent of number one intelligence agency in the whole Grand line city and in country for that matter, she was there to confront Lucci, her boyfriend, who was sitting in Baratie with Kalifa, his partner in crime and kill….….

.

.

“………Thanks” Zoro finally managed to say.

“Damn _Marimo…_..What is wrong with you?” Sanji was angry. Why Sanji was angry was beyond him, ‘I mean Zoro did insult a lady, if not called her a man! But also Zoro, who never noticed a woman no matter how beautiful or stunning they were, why in the whole fucking Grand line he acted like that?’ Sanji thought. Sanji noticed that girl was unusually calm even after being called a man and what not, she never said anything.

“Shutupp Dartbrow!” Zoro said finally getting his senses back and looked at Sanji as if he had just broken something and now he cannot mend it well or he has lost something that would never be found out. ‘What the hell is happening to Zoro?’ Sanji was confused.

“It is ok. Please excuse me” the girl said calmly and went away before they could say anything.

“You see, you pissed her off! Now she is leaving” Sanji said, Sanji was not sure what he was angry about at most, Zoro not only insulted her but also stared at her like he has never seen a woman before. ‘Nami swan is definitely beautiful, but he has never done that to her! But what? Am I pissed because he was noticing a girl! I mean she is beautiful! And every man should love a woman the way I do but why I feel that I must ………... ’ The aimless thinking in Sanji’s mind came to an end when his cell phone beeped indicating he had a text massage.

“No idiot, she is going to talk to that guy, see.” Zoro said while he still was staring at her back or more like her ass.

**Zoro’s POV**

‘Man! That perfect ass! Its definitely her! It was her who dropped me here not some guy, she drove that bike like a jet, she smelled all woodsy and she was wearing those glows! I still cannot believe it!’ Zoro could not stop the thinking process in his mind, it was like time has stopped and his mind was racing like thousands of Kmph. He wanted to find all about her. He closed his eyes and looked down and scratched his head violently.

‘Wait! Does that mean she is a Hawkeye agent! That number!! And the J on her helmet!! …..Was it her, that day at Valley trust bank, saving our officers, fighting the armed men without using a gun, she sure is ghost; people don’t know anything about her. They are even scared to find out. But Sargent Smoker did tell me about her; everything adds up, I mean the blond hair, blue eyes, tall girl and the number on the bike, JJ 18 EG, its special, there is no such a plate in our records. That could indicate the name Jane Jaraquille, her unit is 18th unit of Enigma task force. She had helmet having J drawn on it. She is fast and strong. That unmistakable sign of Hawkeye systems! It’s her! I have found her out! Hell I touched her! She is real deal! Is she investigating here? I should take a photo. Should i?

I secretly took her photos in my camera phone while taking a secret glances at her. I noticed that she went out of the restaurant with a guy she was staring at few minutes ago. ‘She must be investigating! I will confirm her identity tomorrow when I will meet Sargent Smoker.’

“C’mon moss head, we are leaving!” Sanji said taking cigarette out of his mouth and motioning me to follow him.

End of Zoro’s POV-----

In party, Zoro spent nearly all his time thinking about his messed up love life, Sanji’s unchanging rude and ignorant behavior towards him and his new found obsession. He thought of consulting somebody about the thoughts he was having in his mind and he knew exactly right person to discuss this thing with. Zoro was man of few words, he was not exactly the one to impress somebody with speech but he definitely was man of action, he looked all strong, rugged and unapproachable but he also had a soft side many people dint know about and Zoro was kind of a loner, he never cared about what people thought about him, he was not a people person after all.

Everybody was surprised that Usopp, Kaya and Law could not make it to the Party but they had phoned Nami and others that they had something to take care of. Party was good but Zoro wanted to consult Law about his changing feelings which he obviously could not as Law did not show up for the party.

\--------------------


	4. Zoro meets Jane officially!

Mihawk, the director and the founder of the company, was sitting in his office at his desk in front of his Laptop but was staring at the huge LCD screen of a monitor seated on the wall; his office was on the 25th floor where nobody except the directors, the special 25th floor personnel and Jane had permission to enter. Whole floor was perfectly sealed for the outside world, they had all the data, their servers, prime computer lab and scientists, the supercomputer they called ‘Iber2089’ which was the base of their computer systems and many more very important things that other people didn't know about, so limited people had access to enter the floor. It was way easy for Mihawk to monitor the whole building and all his people from up here, keep an eye on everything that is going on and be secluded from everything at the same time. Shanks however chose to have office near to offices of all the field agents; his office was on 18th floor where Jane’s office was.  All enigma unites that is Elite units of Hawkeye Task force had their offices on the floors 10th up to 22nd floor, Iceberg, second director of the company, who was in command of the Software and hardware for Building Security, Survey and communication Mechanisms part of Hawkeye system had his office on 23rd floor and 24th floor which was empty, actually had been offered to Shanks but he choose to stay near his people.

Shanks was the third director of the company who handled all the field agents, he was chief of all the Agent unites starting from 10 to 22 and rest of the detective staff and their trainers, he handled actual field work for Hawkeye systems. He had office on 18th floor but hardly had he stayed there, he was always in the building, always on his feet, always with his people, he had everything at his own floor way up in Hawkeye tower at his own place or we may call it his apartment anyways. 18th floor had offices of all people from Jane’s Unit, which was 18th Enigma Unit and thus Law, Vivi, Usopp and Kid had their offices here, the floor’s conference rooms, interrogation rooms, training facility, small medic unit, all was on 18th floor along with Shank’s Office.

The 9th floor was the weapon inventory, the cage and those who cleaned and maintained all the weapons for all the Hawkeye personnel, 8th floor was a huge training facility, Gym, shooting practice arenas along with a boxing ring, a basketball court , skater’s arena and other indoor sports facilities like table tennis, Pool etc. From the 7th floor down to 5th was regular employees for Iceberg's division of the company, 4th floor was a bomb disposal squad and Hazmat unit and team to deal with bio weapons and various Labs for them and doctors along with a Huge Medical facility of Hawkeye Systems, on 3rd floor were prison cells that held the prisoners to be handed over to the world government and the special Hazmat area to store any hazardous things if captured or encountered by the field agents and first two floors were non agent staff of the company. Hawkeye tower had 3 floors of the underground parking.

Shanks was worried about Jane as usual and he thought that Mihawk was turning a blind eye to Jane’s condition and the way she was working, totally ignoring her own health. Mihawk had overlooked some minor details but he knew that Jane needed a break. He however did nothing about it, or Shanks thought so. Mihawk had called up his partner and advisor Iceberg to discuss the issue but Shanks was way too pissed off, he had been trying since two days to get Mihawk tell Jane to stop doing all this and Jane was not ready to listen anything what Mihawk had to say,

“How can you ignore it Mihawk? Jane has become a Machine! All she does is work and train, she does not eat, does not sleep, barely speaks, only if people are around her and talking to her. If it would not have been Law and Vivi, she would not even have looked like Human!” Shanks said in angry voice.

There was a small beep indicating that somebody was on their way to the Mihawk’s floor, Shanks and Mihawk looked at the small screen which indicated that it was in fact the Iceberg who had pressed the 25th button in the direct line elevator. Shanks was confused that why Iceberg was coming to the office when Mihawk has called Shanks for personal reason of discussing a family matter. Shanks looked at Mihawk so ask to ask but Mihawk had started typing something on his work computer panel, which was in fact a glass top working as a touch key pad and then called somebody he didn’t know about. Shanks went over the desk and sat in a chair in front of his boyfriend.

Iceberg came and greeted them both before Mihawk offered him a seat near the red head who was angry beyond limits, as her had a an angry face and narrowed eyes,

“Shanks would you calm down a little, I need to discuss….”

“No! No discussions, take her off that O’hara case right now, we will reopen it after the New year’s eve again, let her rest a little and don’t put her on any other case, that’s it!” Shanks said folding his hands over his chest.

“Mr. Shanks! I am sure you know, she does need to wait for his or your approval now, all the data goes to her office directly and she takes up all the cases on her own and orders everybody around to follow her instructions. She is second in the command now directly after your rank, it’s the highest rank we can offer to a field agent and nobody has reached there at this young age. People actually praise her with all their hearts and she has become their role model so they follow her! They do not even know she is actually Sir Mihawk’s sister or I don’t know what would happen if they knew. So we need to do more than just to take her off all those cases!” Iceberg spoke very calmly, looking very worried about Jane as well as Shanks.

“Exactly what I would expect from my sister!” said Mihawk smirking a little and taking a look at the glass wall having a built-in monitor which had the new bike model displayed that has been offered by the Whitebeard’s auto-mobile company. 

Watching him so calm and distracted from main topic, Shanks got even more pissed,

“Mihawk!” Shanks raised his voice a little. Iceberg looked at Shanks with pity for a second and then at Mihawk with straight face.

“Yes, it is time for the 42Ks Sec Software, Mr. Iceberg, install them in her office at once. It would be the best way to test the new systems.” Mihawk said handing him over some papers and a pen-drive like device.

“But Sir, It is not completely ready yet.” Iceberg said a little confused, he looked at the papers and started reading them one by one.

“How much time you would require?” Mihawk asked in very serious tone but he quickly winked at Shanks while Iceberg was engrossed in reading from the papers and he kept staring at his pissed off lover in the eye, placing his elbow on table and putting his chin in fleshy pad of his palm. The Redhead felt uncomfortable as he was there to discuss about Jane and Mihawk was flirting with him like this in front of Iceberg. Iceberg however was unaware of all this and he was totally engulfed in reading the papers Mihawk had given him and doing some calculations in his mind. After few minutes of Mihawk’s staring and Iceberg’s reading and doing something in his tablet, Iceberg finally spoke and Mihawk broke his eye-contact with his slightly blushing lover,

“At least a day and half. I would have them installed by tomorrow evening, I give you my word!” Iceberg said confidently and he nodded his head while saying so. Shanks closed eyes, thought about Jane and the slight blush he had on his face finally disappeared.

“But what are you guys talking about?” Shanks asked in confused voice.

“Oh! And Mr. Iceberg, I want you to pass up all the controls to Shanks' office and secondary controls to my handheld as usual.” Mihawk said giving Shanks his handheld unit that was nothing but a glass screen with a single button on it, it flashed up and had something displayed for Shanks to see. It was a prototype and the manual for the new system they were discussing about.

“Yes sir, sure! I would like to leave now. Mr. Shanks, I would send you an email mentioning the detailed report and manual for the system. Good day to both of you!” he said with a curt nod.

“Ok. Good day to you too Mr. Iceberg” Shanks said in calm voice and Mihawk just gave a slight nod. Iceberg then left the couple and went away to his office, Shanks placed the delicate device on the top of the desk, stood up while he appeared to be in deep thoughts, left the chair and went to door without uttering a word. Shanks was really worried and sad that he could not do anything for Jane. He was deep in his own thoughts that he did not notice that he was leaving without saying anything or even the fact that Mihawk got up and came behind him.

Mihawk quickly went to Shanks while Shanks was deep in his thoughts and sneaked an arm around his waist and pulled his Red head lover back to his chest, he brought his nose to Shanks’s neck and breathed in his scent,

“So, Jane’s mother, I am giving you full authority to monitor her office. Now, use it carefully and take care of Jane, sweetheart!” Mihawk said in deep husky voice and kissed at the base of his neck as he gripped Shanks from backside and started sucking on it. Shanks opened his mouth to scold him but a shaky breath left his mouth instead and his hands went to Mihawk’s to pull the strong arms of golden eyed man off him.

“What…what you mean monitor? And what is this 42Ks-system?” Shanks asked in a shaky voice, he was trying to get away from the death grip his lover had over him, _well not exactly trying just pretending to try..:P_. Mihawk stopped his work on Shanks’s neck which already had been marked with reddish spot and answered his worried lover,

“We are developing the new lock-down security protocols as you know. This particular software would be giving the higher authority an access to every computer and computer controlled device inside the room of building depending upon the connections and capacity of controlling software, they can perform as minor thing as to stop the data flow to even completely shut the system off but also lock down the entire facility if computer operated.” He voice came all muffled as he actually spoke against Shank’s skin, which was making Shanks’s mind go fuzzy and Mihawk started eating his skin again.

“Aaagh! Mihaw…”Shanks was losing his battle keeping his resolve of scolding Mihawk and wanting him to discuss about Jane or just leave the office to talk to her himself. Mihawk knew exactly well how to turn his strong and powerful Shanks into a moaning mess. Mihawk was trying to get his hands inside Shank’s shirt.

“W....Why?” Shanks let Mihawk eat his skin and enjoyed the guilty pleasure himself making a low growling sound.

“We have been asked to develop and build these systems for world government’s weapon manufacturing division, the Vegapunk’s lab and of course they don’t trust their own secret services!” Mihawk said smirking against Shanks' skin.   

Shanks finally separated himself from his grip and tuned around to face Mihawk to put his palms on his chest to keep the distance between Mihawk’s sinful mouth and his lovely abused skin,

“You mean you want me to forcefully stop her work by cutting the data flow off or may be shutting her whole office down from outside, like what.............making her leave her own office! Isn’t that too rude Mihawk? I mean, instead of that I will just go, throw her over my shoulder and make her come home with me!” Shanks asked furrowing his brows and narrowing his eyes on his lover. Mihawk bent forward to touch his forehead to Redhead’s while Shanks was pushing him back to make him talk to him seriously but no veil, Mihawk smirked and said,

“Oh! You think you can do that without any protest from her! And that too, in front of the whole office staff! If you do that babe then I will let you top tonight!” Mihawk said in husky voice and Shanks hands could not keep Mihawk at bay anymore, his legs felt giving out, he stared at smirking Mihawk like he had grown out two heads, his mouth slightly parted.

After getting a desired reaction Mihawk’s eyes sparkled with silver of satisfaction, he could not keep his hands off Shanks any more, Mihawk cupped Shanks' face in his right hand while kept his other hand on Shanks’ waist and yanked Shank’s body to collide with his,

“What actually bothers me is that …….” Mihawk quickly gave peck on Shanks' lips and continued his sentence in his smoky voice which sent shivers down the Redhead’s spine “…...now-a-days she does not seem to listen to you too”

“Bothers you? ……but…. Ummmm!” Shanks could no longer speak, he was pulled into a passionate kiss………………….. and into a much more intimate activity after that….

\-----------------------------

_**After 2 days of Iceberg’s and Mihawk’s discussion about the new software system............** _

……………………it was nearly 10 o'clock in the night and Jane as usual was still working in her office, last time she had food was the dinner she had a day before, nearly 24 hours back when Shanks had cooked for her and made her eat at his place, she was not responding to his call today and not even replying his texts. Law was in her office, relaxing on a sofa and doing something on his tab, as usual waiting for Jane to finish up and leave which was rare.

“Jane ya, let us have a dinner ne?” said law looking at his friend who was writing something in her old brownish small dairy like thingy she kept in her pocket.

“Law, I am not hungry, please go and eat, man! Don’t wait for me!” She said sparing him an apologetic glance.

“But..” Law started protesting.

“Law, please. Really, I am not hungry and you know Shanks is gonna make me eat something anyway; so just go ok! You had a call from your friends’ right! You can still make it, it’s just 10pm. Off you go!” Jane said now looking at law and making an apologetic face again. Law gave a sigh in defeat,....

“Ok, but call me after you finish ok!” 

“Sure! Bye!” Jane said smiling. Law stood up and went to the door, he was very hungry and he had been asked to join Luffy and the group many times over last couple of hours.

“Bye Jane-ya” Law said while getting out of the door and leaving Jane alone in her office. 

About 20 minutes after Law left and about 10 more ignored calls from worried Shanks, her laptop got shut down, the server in her office too and so on. All of her office devices one by one went down, just the door was open. lights, AC, camera, her computerised drawers, office cell, tab, her earpiece device, her tracker, her watch, everything was shut down.

Jane’s personal mobile started ringing, displaying Shanks’ number and that pissed her off beyond limits, every other office on the floor was working fine, well lit and light beam was coming inside her office from a small gap between curtains on the window, other things in the area were functioning just fine,

“Ice for brains!!!!………you are gonna pay for this!!!” She yelled still sitting in her chair in dark office. That yell made every man and women outside in area nearby her office to start staring at unusual site of the pitch-black Office in well illuminated Hawkeye premises.

Jane stood up searched for her wallet and her Hawkeye key-card, her keys. She took a portable radio, her personal mobile phone and went to her place. Shanks was happy that she went to her apartment after he did shut her office down and started thinking about cooking dinner for both of them as he thought he would make her eat with him.

Jane went to her apartment in the Hawkeye tower, she quickly grabbed a shower and put a disguise so that she could wander around city unnoticed because she had no plans to spend the time in the tower any more, she was so annoyed that she was going to teach all these people a lesson for doing that thing to her office.

She came out of her bathroom and decided to put on a simple skater dress that would not attract much attention. She put a long baggy dark green t-shirt with long sleeves, tight fit back jeans, her dark green shoes, threw a black hoodie and a navy blue snapback with bright red coloured ‘grand line’ written on it under the hoodie, she put a green wristband to hide the tattoo and spayed some of her perfume. She took one of her fancy white and green skateboard in her right hand and went out of the Hawkeye tower without anybody stopping her as she chose unusual route today, she went to 8th floor first as if to skate in the arena for a while but then ran down the staircase and went outside the tower.

She skated on the road for a while.

“Man! This city is full with people, roads are filled with them, I can’t even find a hot guy walking around! C’mon, do I really need to serf on internet for getting a decent face to gawk at?"

"Life outside office sure is boring!” She yelled with her hands in air and a few girls passing by gave her ‘what the hell’ look, she showed them middle finger before she pulled her hoodie over her head and put her left toe on the skateboard’s edge to make it stand vertically up aligning with her foot and picked it up in stylish way before walking away.

She was walking with the skateboard on shoulder balanced by the hand till she reached the Simpson’s and she bought some chocolates stuffed them in her pockets and bought two sandwiches and left the place walking slowly enjoying the cold weather and the voices of traffic, trying to find something interesting to pass some time before she had to decide to go back.

She came to the corner where the Simpson’s shop had put some benches, chairs and tables where you could eat your takeaways peacefully. Lights were warm and people were calm, enjoying their food and it felt little away from the road due to the thick wall fence, but she went to stand near a pole just outside that 4 feet wall and leaned against it, while putting her skateboard down. She looked across the wall moving her eyeballs, she noticed a tall and bulky guy with tattoo of a snake on his arm, he had brown hair and was wearing tight black t-shirt which showed his well-built torso and he had blue Jeans and cool over coat just was hanging on the chair beside him,

‘Dude, that guy is real hunk!’ Jane thought taking bite of her sandwich, gawking at him.

‘Aww! Shit! he just touched that blonde dude’s ass! What’s wrong with guys these days? Wait! On second thought, it’s good though I get to watch both of them!’ She smirked and gawked at the couple for a minute or two, they were stealing pervy touches from each other when they thought nobody was watching but soon she stopped eating and she sighed in frustration and closed her eyes.

‘This is no good! I am not like this, I can’t do this any more! Shit!! I was not like this. In School, I was so different, I pulled pranks, I was mischievous and I used to do the unthinkable. I used to check out boys, I used to whistle at them, they used to shy away from me. Me and my friends, even Law enjoyed the reactions we used to get from them! And fuck, it was so fun! I am not like that any more. I am so dam boring now!’ 

‘Curse you Lucci! You said that I changed you, fact is you changed me too, I don’t believe that you never loved me in all those years you were with me, I don’t believe that was just for your cover. Tsk! Besides the Hawkeyes, I don’t even have friends because of you! Still! I can’t fucking hate you! Just tell me why the hell I can’t hate you and move on! Fuck you Lucci!’ She cursed Lucci and herself even more before she started eating her sandwich again.

She Tsk!-ed out loud, took out her head phones from the pocket and left them hanging around neck. She put on her music playing in her cell phone, pushed the earpiece in her left ear and started eating her sandwich in other when she got a call on her cellphone displaying Smoker’s personal mobile number.

\---------------------

**_Faraway from Hawkeye tower before Jane walked out of the building, somewhere near SWAT division,_ **

_While Jane was still in her office and her office was still working fine…_

Smoker got a call from Kuzan, his best friend from the world government offices, also known as Aokiji to the outside world,

‘Kuzan calling on my personal number? Must be important!’ thought Smoker looking at his cell phone and picking up the call.

“Smoker! Hey! You still in the Division?”

“Yes, what is it? Why call on this number?”

“Well, let us keep this brief, can you get hold of Jane?”

“That Kid? Like, right now?”

“Yes, it is urgent, very important for her indeed! I cannot call her from here, you know how things get. Just call her and make her call me on form your number as soon as possible. I will give you a call within an hour regardless of what might the situation be, bye for now!”

With that the call ended and Smoker was confused,

“That brat is going to be my end!” huffed Smoker with scowl on his face.

He went inside his office took the keys of the black land-Rover or specifically speaking a range rover sport this time as their regular SWAT SUV would draw too much attention. When he came out of the office he spotted the greenhead,

Zoro was ready to head back to home and was walking towards his bike.

“Smoker, sir? I thought we were done for the day! Are we going anywhere?” Zoro stood in front of Smoker thinking of what emergency they might have had to deal with this time, he was not interested in going back home or being alone even in the bar or restaurant, alone and left out even among all the friends, as he knew that everybody had their either partners or lovers or dates or whatnot except for him; he would anyways feel alone and ignored.

“No, I just need to take care of something for a friend. You have anything better to do?” Smoker asked lighting his Cigar.

“Nope, I was just going to join my friends in the bar!” Zoro shrugged a little.

“Then, you are on another hour of Chauffer duty, boy!” Smoker tossed keys for Zoro to catch.

\----------

They were heading towards Hawkeye tower which obviously Zoro or any other grand line citizen did not know about, the building was no doubt very famous and had become a landmark; but all the public knew was that it was some company named Galley-La which built software and hi-tech locking mechanisms. Smoker was giving Zoro directions as they made their way to the place where Zoro had no idea about and even if he did, it wouldn't have mattered much as he was never good with the directions, they were just halfway down the road when Smoker decided to call Jane. After a minute of ringing she picked up the call,

“Hey Smokey! How are ya?” came uncharacteristically enthusiastic voice of Jane.

“Got something interesting for you Blondie! Now tell me where the hell are ya?” Smoker smirked at her unusual and childish sounding voice; he immediately figured out she was out in some weird get up or in some bad mood or even she may be working undercover. Zoro did not know what Smoker was smirking for and got confused at sudden change of behaviour of his superior officer.

“Are you calling me 'coz my ol' man made ya to?” asked Jane pissed off at the thought of Shanks might have made him call her.

“You annoying brat! Kuzan wants to talk to ya, says it’s important! Now tell me where in the world are ya or am gonna call your mom!” spat Smoker. Zoro glanced at Smoker with suspicious look on his face.

“Okay! Okay! Cool off, old man! I am near Simpson’s on the Main Street at the 3rd. Come and pick me up, ain’t got no vehicle!” She said.

“I will be there in 15.” Smoker said and cut the call.

 

\---------------

When they reached the place and stopped the car, smoker started looking for Jane on the busy road filled with people. Jane was standing checking her emails on her Cell phone while, she stood the way in which her back was facing the car. Jane had thought Smoker would take the obvious route, but when Smoker was in his deep thoughts Zoro had taken a wrong turn somewhere and that made them change the route. Jane waited for them to show up, her left foot was on the skateboard making it slid back and forth and other foot was firmly placed on ground, she had her side leaning against the pole with her shoulder resting on it and had her second half eaten sandwich in right hand while she was holding a cell in other hand.

Smoker scanned the area for Jane for more than a minute and found her out even with that weird get up and the hoodie. He told Zoro to go and get her,

“Zoro, you see that brat with skateboard and black hoodie!” Smoker said pointing his finger to Jane. They were still inside the car but Zoro did notice whom Smoker was pointing out.

“Yeah!” Said Zoro in confused voice, ‘Why would some skater punk know smoker and what business does that guy has with the situation Smoker has to take care of?’ Zoro thought.

“That is the subject of very great importance, go and get that brat for me, will ya?” Smoker said smirking, as he knew Jane is going to blow his mind of at first glance as Zoro was completely obsessed with finding out her identity for real.

“Ok sir, but what’s his name?” Zoro asked.

“Oh! You don’t need that, just go and tell that I am waiting in car. That would be sufficient!”

Zoro got out of the car and made his way to Jane. He noticed that the skater had earphones plugged in the ears so decided to tap the shoulder. Jane turned back to face Zoro,

 

She turned on her heels,

"Yes?" asked Jane casually before she looked at Zoro,

‘Holy Shit! This guy is hot! Wait! Green? He has green hair? Seriously? Wait! They suit him just fine! How does it suit him so well? Why is he so surprised! What is he gawking at me for? Man! If I don’t do something this dude may make me blush! Think Jane! Avoid the embarrassment!!’ She unknowingly had titled her head, gawking at his handsome but expressionless face. ‘Fuck! Snap out of it Jane!’ She said to herself in her mind.

The moment she turned back, Zoro took a step back and made ‘what the hell!’ face.

Zoro was stupefied!! there was no doubt about it, in the daze he could not speak, he felt his throat go dry, the words simply died in his mouth. The one, he is been looking all over the city for, the one who had become the subject of his obsession, the one who had become the topic of everyday discussions in the whole police department, the one being praised by all the detectives, Jane herself was standing right in front of him, in blood and flesh, dressed like total skater teen. Bewildered by the sight of her face, Zoro just stared at her, he remembered just fine, ‘her bright blue eyes, her strong athletic build, her bike, her cool attitude, her Roman nose, her voice, her long golden blonde hair…'Wait! What happened to her hair? It’s too short, like, like a guy! She is wearing it like a guy!! Why it’s so short?...’ 

“You! You cut your hair! Why?” Zoro asked changing his expressions to a little sad, not even knowing he should not be asking such as thing to her, he had no right to ask such a thing!

“Excuse me? Am I supposed to know you?” She asked confused and tilted her head even more, all the way to her right side, still innocently staring at his blank face.

She was surprised at the question. ‘Did this guy know me from somewhere? Has he been following me? Is he some kind of agent? But then why is he so astonished to see me? Am I looking awful? Wait? Since when do I care about that! I dressed to look like this! Huh! I guess I have to bring this Greenhead back to reality!’ she thought.

His expressions did no change much, nor did he reply to her but she got self-conscious due to his staring, so she took a step forward, put her sandwich inside her mouth and wanting to shake him a little to snap him out if it.

The moment she touched him, his shoulders, Zoro felt tingling on his shoulders and he felt Goosebumps coming to life all over his body, hairs on his neck stood up. She felt his muscles twitching under her touch, it was quite unexpected for Jane, so her eyes widen a little and then she furrowed her brows,

‘What! Why is he reacting like this? Am I radiating some electricity off my palms? Dude! What is wrong with you? But then why the hell I like this reaction of his?’ She thought.

“Stop!” Zoro yelled at her closing his eyes. He finally got out of the trance and scratched back of his head, embarrassed with his own behavior and pointed towards the car Smoker was sitting in.

She looked in the direction he was pointing at and figured out that it was Smoker.

‘Smokey! You brought me a treat today, I love this car, Ahem, I liked the hunk as well! But why Smokey brought this guy along with him. Forget everything, I am gonna go and feel her! I must feel those wheels! Long time no see Range Rover! Brother, why... oh why you don’t like these babies! I am going to make Shanks buy me one!’ She thought and decided to run to the car.

She took the sandwich in her hand after taking another bite of it and took the skateboard in her second hand after putting her phone back in her back pocket, ran past Zoro yelling a ‘yey!’ and went over to Smoker. She opened the door and jumped into the driver’s seat. After seeing her heading at the car speedily, Zoro ran back to car but had to stop when she shut the door before her could protest.

“C’mon green head, hope in, I am driving! Long time no see Smokey!!!” She yelled caressing the wheel and taking the feel of the car in.

“Yeah! Good to see ya too, kiddo!” Said Smoker smirking but his eyes were on Zoro’s face which was broadcasting that he was totally mesmerised by Jane, Zoro was staring at her, having expressions like he had moon within his reach and he just had to stretch his hand.

“Let’s get the show on the road!” Jane started the car engine unaware by Zoro’s gaze on her as she was enjoying the sound, feel and the power of engine and Zoro had to get into the car in the back seat. They drove off the road.

“So, tell me old man! What’s going on? Why did you bring this guy with you! You know the deal about the strangers, he can’t be here!” said Jane taking bite of her sandwich.

“Yeah! Yeah! I know. Trust me over this. Just call Kuzan, take this.” He said giving her, his personal cell phone to Jane to make a call. She almost stuffed her face, took quite big but last bite off the sandwich so as to finish it and cleaned her hand with her handkerchief, Zoro stared wide eyed at her stuffed face, he just had known only another girl who would do such a thing and could care less about what people thought, Jwelly Bonney. She would rival Luffy stuffing her face and making cooks black out from exhaustion while working in kitchen, preparing food for them.

‘Is Jane also like Bonney? Or she just wanted to eat that fast!’ Zoro thought.

She took some device off her cell phone after putting the handkerchief back inside her pocket while driving the car chewing on her sandwich, maintaining her speed with only a hand on the wheel and she inserted the Smoker’s mobile phone in the device and called Kuzan using her other hand, the speaker was on. She swallowed the contents in her mouth and cleared her voice as the ringing ended when he picked up the call,

“Hey old man, Jane here. Me, Smokey and some guy with green hair are listening to you.” She said, ‘Guy with green hair? Anyways it’s better than _Marimo_ , moss head or something…’ Zoro thought.

“Well, it’s nice to hear your voice, it’s been a while. I am not at liberty to speak much but I want to give you some old rusty papers and some photographs you might be interested in. Meet me in downtown, at BB football stadium construction site in 30 minutes, I will be alone and near the back entrance where there is big yellow flag, there would be no vehicle in vicinity. But if you see one or any black and white just turn back and go away the way you would come, bye!” Aokiji said in his usual casual tone and lax voice.

Call ended with that.

“What’s with all this secrecy?” Smoker said and Jane got all serious. She turned the car in different route and that earned her suspicious glare from Smoker.

“What the hell are you doing, dammed brat! He has given us very less time as it is! Don’t you drive off course, you idiot!!” smoker spat.

“No sir, She is taking a different route, the shorter one…She…She must be knowing another way there!” Smoker narrowed his eyes on his subordinate after Zoro spoke this and Jane got suspicious of him.

‘Why that voice sounds so familiar? Just who the hell is he?’ She thought.

“Relax Smokey, we are good! Now who is this guy? And why is he here again?” Asked Jane pointing at him while stealing a glance at Zoro, he was looking at his radio awkwardly,

“Jane he is ok, don’t worry about him, he is not even here! He is ..” Before Smoker could complete Zoro took out his portable radio and cleared his throat.

“Unn!” he did not say anything but stared at it.

The police radio Zoro had, it had just started playing the nation anthem and Smoker stopped talking and Zoro was staring at the radio like it had grown feet and it had started dancing or something.

“They are playing National anthem???????????” Zoro wondered aloud as he increased the volume to the full and Jane sighed in frustration.

“Am gonna kill you bastards!!!” spoke Jane in low and angry voice, gritting her teeth and making both of them to look at her with confusion written all over their faces and she took one of her hands off the wheel, stretched it open in front of Zoro’s face.

“Give me the damned radio” demanded Jane without looking at him,

He handed over the radio to her without uttering a word; she took something out from her pocket, attached it to radio and pressed some code inside the word panel while still maintaining the speed. The radio made an ear-shattering noise which made their eyebrows twitch as they hissed at the shrill noise, before the sound of the national anthem stopped,

“You guys! National anthem! Seriously??? Who the hell is that, T is that you? Answer me right now!” yelled Jane at the radio.

“It’s me Jane.” Mihawk said from other side, Jane and Smokey knew that voice but Zoro did not, he raised his eye brow at the sound of the man and was keenly looking and listening to what all was happening since Jane got into the car.

“Brother?” Jane whisper yelled and narrowed her eyes keeping them on the road and the traffic.

“Where are you? Come back home right now!” Mihawk continued.

“No! Can’t do!” Jane sounded like a pissed off child, she had a scowl on her face and had her blonde brows furrowed. She took a sharp tune and made everybody bent in their seats uncomfortably; wheels made a high pitched noise as tires skidded harshly against the black surface of road, Smoker and Zoro gripped the part of car-seat and what they could to keep themselves in position.

“Damn brat! Don’t take it out on ma car” Smoker cursed under his breath.

"That's what seat belts are for!!" huffed Jane whispering,

“Jane, I am ordering you to get back here right now!” Mihawk said in firm and curt voice.

“Tough luck! I am off duty! You can’t order me around Mr. Bossy!” She said making very typical ‘Yeah! Like I am gonna listen to you!’ face.

“Jane where is your cell?” came a serious and deep voice and her face got normal again, It was Law. That voice caught Zoro’s attention; he narrowed his eyes as if to figure out who was on the other side.

“T?? Why you!! You did this? You got this done, didn't you?” Jane said taking other turn and there, they could see the construction site behind the buildings, they were near the area Kuzan had mentioned.

“Jane, honey, please tell us where you are, I will send a car for you or please just come home dear.” Now, it was a warm, deep and low but very worried voice. Zoro noticed that her expressions changed from angry and troubled to sad and tired after hearing that voice, she sighed before she spoke,

“What you expect? You guys kicked me out of my own damn office. And this radio thingy! Why you did that?” She asked in tired voice. Zoro was confused and so was Smoker.

“Honey, you did not answer your mobile phone, rest of all your devices are back at the office. We did not know how to contact you. All we wanted for you to take some rest, look you have been working around the clock and this is not the first time you are doing this. 24 hours is too much baby! We are worried about you. This is going to affect your health…..” Shanks’s voice was worried and apologetic.

Zoro was trying to keep himself calm and listen, he leaned back into seat somewhat uncomfortably, he could not just make it out, he was troubled now,

‘Who was it this time, who could change her mood like this, who would be so close to her, why is he calling her ‘honey!’ and 'baby' and..., her boyfriend? Another brother? Is she married already? So I don’t have any chance! Why this happens to me?’ he thought.

“Our performance..” said Law calmly in his deep voice to continue the Shanks' sentence further as he abruptly cut him off.

“And ultimately our reputation” added Mihawk in cold voice cutting Law’s sentence of now.

“Shut up you two!! Jane, honey, I am sorry. I was the one who shut everything down in your office. Please wherever you are, just come home, I even have cooked a dinner for us.” Shanks said in worried voice.

Shanks was going overboard with playing part of a worried parent now. Jane just hissed as she managed to avoid the scratch or may be a dent just by a hair on the smoker's car while driving through small space and she wanted Shanks to stop chatting about all family business like this… Shanks continued the conversation while she was thinking about the road, traffic and how to make her DAD stop talking….

“When I saw you going back at your place I thought I would make you eat with me as usual. You know…” Shanks could not speak as Jane suddenly cut him off smiling at the road as she had reached the place she wanted them to be at,

“Shanks! Hey…Um……, I am following up with a very crucial lead here, if it turned out to be unimportant, I would return back I promise, I will call you. Now can we please stop this family discussion over radio! I am with people here.” She said sounding very uneasy. Zoro noted that name and started thinking again.

“Ok, alright, alright! Don’t forget to call. And DO TAKE CARE.” He said stressing his tone on the last three words.

“Bye Dad!” She yelled while she smiled again before she took the radio off the device she had put on it. While Zoro and smoker were busy analyzing ‘what just happened!’ and looked like in deep thoughts, the car stopped right in front of the construction site. Radio had started function normally again.

“So, how much time we have got left Smokey?” She asked with smirk and Smoker glanced at her with narrow eyes.

“5 minutes!” Smoker said checking the clock. She gave a sigh of contentment and tuned off the engine and took her cell phone to check something in it. Smoker looked at her and said,

“Well!! you gotta be kidding me! They did not know that you left the goddamned tower?” he said with disbelief.

“Nope, they didn’t!” She said smiling at the mobile phone in her hand.

“I see! So you and your brother still don’t get along that well, now do you?” Smoker said giving out a puff of smoke outside the car looking for the yellow flag thingy. They got a signal indicating them to come for the meet from up there with the small torch light thingy. Smoker knew it was Kuzan.

“We have had our moments and our fights! But Shanks manages well.” She said checking her gun and the magazine.

“I can see that much! Always so worried over you! I am surprised he even lets you out to work on the field!” Smoker looked at her and gave her the smirk while saying the last sentence.

“Hey! Take that back! Don’t you say anything about Shanks, you old man!” She pulled cigar off his mouth and threw it outside the car from the window on her side, smiling menacingly at Smoker.

“Alright! Alright! Now stop acting like a damned brat, Jane!!” he said taking out another cigar from his pocket.

“This better be worth it!” Jane said putting her gun in the strap behind her back inside the hoodie and adjusted it and her snapback for hiding her upper side of face well. She looked at smoker, rubbed her palms and opened the door.

“Yeah! Off you go! We would wait here!” Smoker said looking at the door near yellow flag and motioning his head towards outside the car. She got out of the car, stomped on the cigar she had thrown previously to crush it.

“Sure thing!” ……She looked up at the building and waved at the car,

“Gentlemen! I won’t be long!”  She said putting her hands inside the pockets of Hoodie and ran to the location.

\-----------

**Zoro’s POV**

‘She seemed all different today, why she cut her hair? No doubt she looks so cool like this too, but she should have kept the long hair. She is way too awesome; I mean she is nothing like any other girl I know. There sure are good female intelligence agents and cops everywhere, even Tashigi and Kuina are awesome cops but she is totally at different level. She thinks and acts so unlike girls. She called her dad by his name? I could not make out much of their conversation earlier. Was she really working for 24 hours and still was this energetic! Dude! What is she made of? The way she drove this car! She is totally like Luffy with cars and bikes! Like she feels them within her! And one of the others sound I knew that voice, I have heard it before, like many times over. Damn! Why can’t I tell whom does it belong to!’ Zoro thought after the radio started functioning normal.

‘Man, I never would have thought, never in my dreams that I would meet her again like this! And this time too, I thought that it was a guy I was going to talk to and what the hell Man! We reached the site within 25 minutes! How Cool!” he thought watching decrease the speed.

“So, how much time we have got left Smokey?” She stopped the car right in front of the construction site and looked at Sargent to give a smirk.

“5 minutes! Well you gotta be kidding me! They did not know that you left the goddamned tower?”

‘Wait! The Tower! Does he mean THE Hawkeye tower, means when we picked her up, we were near the very building! There is only one building near that area which is famous and looks insanely expensive. The Iceberg’s office! Franky’s clients, So, that is Hawkeye Tower? Really?’

“Nope, they didn’t!” Jane said in confident voice.

“I see, so you and your brother still don’t get along that well, now do you?” Sargent asked in mocking tone.

‘What? Brother? Oh! Yes she had whispered something like that! Her Dad sounds younger than her brother! That is strange! Was that familiar voice was is brother? Do I know any of those people? Hell! This is so frustrating!’

“Yeah! We have had our moments and fights! But Shanks manages well.” She said casually.

‘So, she calls her dad by his name and his name is Shanks. Wait! Isn’t that the name of the guy who saved Luffy when he was a kid! There can be many people with same name; I should not be jumping to any conclusions yet!’

“I can see that much! Always so worried over you! I am surprised he even lets you out to work on the field!” Sargent taunted.

‘What are you saying Sargent! She is best damn agent they have right now!’ I thought.

“Hey! Take that back! Don’t you say anything about Shanks, you old man!” She said and took his cigar out of his mouth and the it out of the window, he Tsk!-ed at her.

‘Her reaction! Same that Luffy would have given of somebody would have ill spoken about the Shanks he keeps us telling about. Are they one and the same after all? Man! I can’t even ask her that.’

“Alright! Alright! Now stop acting like a damned brat, Jane!!” he said taking out another cigar from his pocket.

“This better be worth it!” She did something; I think she was checking her gun and bullets.

“Yeah! Off you go! We would wait here!”

‘What! I wanna go with her! But I guess I will have to sit here.’ I thought.

“Sure thing! Gentlemen! I won’t be long!” She ran to the building and we were left in the car.

I sighed and relaxed in the seat, put my head on the headrest and closed my eyes.

‘I never knew why was I that excited and nervous. I mean I was on the backseat. She did not even notice me, hell.... she did not even remember me! I admit that I did not do anything back then to make fine impression on her but I have green hair damn it! That’s pretty rare and she should have remembered me at least for that!’

“How is your day going Corporal SWAT EU Roronoa Zoro?” Sir Smoker asked in mocking tone.

“Are you kidding me? You nearly gave me a heart attack there!” I said opening my eyes but still keeping head rested and tilted staring at the car top.

“Really! I wanted to see the look on your face actually! It must have been a sight, one in million! You act all cool and careless, as if you don’t give a damn to anything. But these Hawkeye people got you really bad! She is really something eh!” he said puffing out a smoke cloud. ‘He knew this all along; he didn’t even give me a hint that we were going to meet her. He knew that I was looking for her.’

“Why dint you tell me back at the division itself!” I asked him.

“Tsk! That would have ruined everything! What’s fun in that boy? I am telling ya. You already are a SWAT officer; you can join their task force by simply giving an exam and proving you physical strength to one of the trainers. I will give you all the info, you can check it out! I am so deep in this shit now I can’t leave, but you should not do what you don’t believe in, choose your own path boy” He said,

‘he has been telling me this from the very start but my father insisted on working for the government. The ‘Hawkeye security services’ was a private firm, though well reputed, but it was all a big secret agency.’

“I will think about it sir!” I said.

‘I really wanna matter, I really wanna do interesting stuff like these Hawkeye people do. It also may help me find this Mihawk person, these people have taken up that name, he must be somehow related to this organization. I must think about it, I would have to talk to father. Why I keep feeling this weird restlessness! The anxiety! What is happening to me? Law you better be right about what you said to me that day! Am I really falling for a girl? And he said it was Ok? Tell me Jane! Why are you so different?’

My thoughts interrupted when I saw her coming back to car.

\---------------end of Zoro’s POV---------------

 

Jane came back with a brown envelope under her arm and she was checking something in her cell.

“Hey kid! Everything alright?” Smoker asked Jane in casual rough voice. She got inside the car.

“Yah, Sargent Smoker, thank you very much for all the help! We are going further in downtown, you guys gonna drop me off at the rundown bridge of Kelly and the wood-ridge and you can go back to whatever you guys were doing!” She said starting the car engine and reversing the car to get off that place.

“Wait! Why? How do you plan to return? And what the..! I mean, are you going to investigate now? Is it really ok to go there at this hour? I mean, how you are planning to roam around and not have a vehicle of your own?” Zoro asked and worded the thoughts of Smoker himself.

“I will manage Mr. Green hair! Why you have to meddle in anyways? Hun?” She asked sparing him a mysterious glare, which made Zoro back off and smoker cleared his throat.

“No, I am taking you back at the tower or let’s go to the division, you take my car and do whatever the hell you want after that.”said SMoker in his gruff voice, sounding a little awkward,

'Fuck! He actually sounds caring! Smoker!! Caring!! Shit!!' thought Zoro,

She did not say anything but slowed down the car a bit as if thinking what to do next. Smoker spoke again.

“C’mon! Division is just 20 minutes away from here. In fact, even less for car-crazy person like you! We are heading back to division, I am gonna give you my car and I will ask Zoro to drop me at my place, you can return my car whenever you want. Ok!”  Smoker took out the keys of his own car parked back at the division and offered her to take from his hands.

‘Wait! Zoro? Have I heard this name before somewhere? Why does this intuition keeps coming up like he is someone I must be knowing! Hulk head, who the hell are you hun?’ She thought but Smoker raised eyebrow and puff of smoke form his cigar brought her back from her thoughts. She sighed and took the keys.

“Ok. Division it is!” she said taking the keys from his hands.

“What in the four blues did Kuzan give you kid?” he said putting his hands inside the pockets of his white jacket.

“What in the four blues???? That’s old Smokey! We live in the grand line, the cluster of all well-developed and important cities in the whole world! Forget all that blue stuff, nobody says that anymore!”

“Like ya are the one to talk, who says the Kelly and the wood-ridge? Its 23rd the southern one!” he said smirking.

“I can’t remember all the numbers, it was better that way! Anyways Kuzan gave me Info on an eyewitness I have been searching for. He really did give me good Intel. His people found it out means it won’t take long for all the govt. people and those pain-in-ass secret assassins to find it too. I need to take action right now.” She said in serious and low voice.

“Call backup from tower before you go in!” Smoker said as if he knew what she was planning on doing.

“Nah, I don’t want it flashy! Stealth is all I need and if things get out of hand I can call them anytime I want. Plus I need to find it alone, I don’t have much details right now but lead sure is reliable” She said.

\-----------

They reached at the division, all of them got out of the car, Smoker called somebody to take care of the car and they all went to parking lot where Smoker had his own car parked.

“I wish you had a bike instead of that old, beaten up car Smokey!” She said to piss him off and it worked just fine.

“Shuttup! Want to run on your legs there?” Smoker asked annoyed. Zoro glanced at them and walked a little faster to be close enough to be in earshot before he spoke,

“Hey! I have one, though it’s not the custom painted Agusta F4 with all too cool accessories!” Zoro said in his deep baritone voice as he arrived near Jane.

Jane stopped suddenly, turned on her hills and stared at Zoro for a minute.

‘How in the fucking grand line this guy knows about my Agusta? Who the hell is he? Why Smoker seems to trust him? Is he really someone I should have known about, I don’t like being clueless. He is acting all so cool and as if he knows me…Wait! Does he really know my true identity? If he does, the whole goddamned GLPD knows! I need to get him to talk!’ Jane thought narrowing her eyes and moved really quick…..

Suddenly as if some kind of power was surging through her, quick on her feet, she dropped the skateboard she was holding and she made her way to Zoro, abruptly took him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him hard with his back on the Van parked adjacent to that of Smoker’s.

“Whoaaa!!” Yelled Zoro, ‘What is she so pissed off at!’ he thought.

Zoro did not even get a time to brace himself for the impact and in a flash she took her gun out to take back of his head at gunpoint with one hand still on his throat. He could not comprehend how a girl could slam him that hard against something that far away in such a short time, he was like about 60 pounds over her; he was way too bulkier and muscly than her.

“Okay Green head! You got my attention! Now spill out your beans before I make you vomit your guts” She said in low voice gritting her teeth.

“Well done Corporal! Finally got her to look at you hun!” Smoker said with a smirk and went to sit on the bike parked in slot opposite to the car parking area.

“Look, you don’t remember me that’s it! We have met before.” Zoro said in clam and low voice, placing his hands up in air.

“Save it for others girls! Ain’t gonna work on me, hulk head!” She said pushing the metallic gun head further in his skin of back of his head up to the point of pain.

“Hey! I am serious, Okay! Few weeks back, we met on 4th street, near traffic lights; you even helped me reach _Baratie_. I gave you my card. We met at the restaurant again. You had bike back then, MV Agusta F4, black with green paint and all cool accessories on it. You had long hair back then. You know, I have been looking for you all over the city. I remember the plate too, JJ 18 EG, and that sign of Hawkeye systems on your bike.” He said in calm and serious voice now, he had closed eyes as if trying to picture her. He could have fought her and gotten out of the grip easily but never struggled for a second because he did not want to, in fact in a way, he was enjoying it.

‘Damn she is fast! She has good strength, definitely more powerful than Sanji, Wait! Why I compare her to him, I mean they are nothing alike, hell not even same gender. Shit! I am losing it again! I need to be calm!’ Zoro thought.

“Yeah! He found everything out on his own, genius eh! I didn’t tell him anything except confirming that it was actually you he was describing after seeing you the other day! He is not a bad guy Jane, just an admirer like thousands of others. Look! If he meant to do anything bad he would have done by now! He has gathered good deal of info about you people.” Smoker said in his gruff voice and she tighten her hand around Zoro’s neck too much his eyes started blurring but left him after slamming hard his back against the car once more before releasing the grip on his throat. He stood straight balancing himself and clearing his throat, she was still having disbelief written all over her face but Zoro looked at her confidently. She relaxed her body language and took a step back.

“Want my autograph then, Corporal?” she asked in mocking tone, keeping her gun back in place.

Zoro stood straight and cleared his throat taking out his keys from the pocket of his Jacket.

“If you would, please sign my bike! So? Want a bike now?” he said showing the keys to her.

When Zoro looked at her she had a silver of doubt in her eyes, as Zoro looked in her blue orbs, he could feel her scrutinizing gaze on his face, his expressions relaxed and he kept his green eyes on her blue, confidently holding her gaze. Zoro felt as if she was reading him, studying his personality, trying to scan his soul, he did not break eye contact even for a second. Her face finally relaxed and her demeanour changed again, she closed her eyes for a moment took a deep breath before opening them again to meet Zoro’s confident and welcoming gaze,

“Jane Jaraquille, Hawkeye task force, EU 18! I lost my bike, that day was her last day, I am afraid I really don’t remember meeting you there at the _Baratie_ but I did help a guy get there and nobody but him should know that I did help a stranger.  I should not be befriending much according to our policy, but you did your homework. So, I guess it is nice to meet you!” She said offering him hand for a hand-shake and Zoro felt his anxiety and nervousness fading away slowly.

“Zoro Roronoa, SAWT special forces, it’s nice to finally meet you officially.” Zoro shook her hand firmly and a wave of relief washed over him. After a handshake she immediately withdrew her hand while Zoro’s fingers lingered on her hand or at least tried to,

“Look the deal is we have to keep our identity a secret! And we have get rid of those who know our true identity!” Zoro raised an eyebrow at her and then relaxed again as she continued talking while she kept her hands on her hips.

“You know only few, a very few people know who exactly I am and they know because I told them, you figured it out so easily that means I lack somewhere or I have a God damned mole inside my office! No doubt I had that bike with fucking Hawkeye mark on it but it’s not that visible for a layman to notice, a mark with dark gray paint on black that too that small, I mean what are the odds? Though you are not a layman, you are an obeserver and I generally don’t take Hawkeye vehicles out if not for our mission or a damn good reason but you had to observe and figure out everything when I was having a bad day Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” She said in very low voice.

“I will take that as a complement! And no you don’t lack anywhere! I was going out of my way to investigate about you people, I got lucky every time. I got really lucky that I met a stranger at traffic lights who helped me and it tuned out that I got lift from the best damn agent in the Hawkeye task force. I haven’t shared anything with anybody and I won’t ever do that. I had a very good day that day indeed!” said Zoro sounding cool,

Zoro keenly looked in her eyes as he continued speaking,

“Now you think you could use a hand where you are going! I won’t ask you any details and anything about the case, I am off duty now! Don’t have anything better to do. Would you mind if I tag along?” Zoro asked in a confident voice.

“Good! Don’t complain about ma car now!” Smoker said getting up, dusting his pants and smirking at Zoro.

She massaged her temple and thought for a minute closing her eyes.

“Okay! But I am driving and you are keeping your mouth shut!” she said in serious voice.

“Aye! Aye! captain!” Zoro said in reassuring voice and tossed the keys for Jane to catch and they bid good bye to Smoker and left the division area.

\--------------

She called Shanks telling where she was and they went to downtown. For what felt like hours, she kept investigating the downtown area, visiting the shops and various buildings, tailing vehicles, talking awful lot of to some unimportant people and security guards around some buildings, asking questions and giving the change to every other homeless person around the area while they looked for somebody Zoro did not know about. After hours of vigorous searching, she got a phone call, she stopped the bike taking it aside from the traffic and Zoro got off and stood near her as she took out her phone.

“John Strauss speaking!” She said. Zoro raised eyebrow but listened to her without uttering a word none the less.

“…….” She was listening keenly to whatever the caller had to say, she took out diary and a pencil form her pocket of the jacket and scribbled something.

“Okay! Good work! Tomorrow noon, near the south central gate of blue station!” She ended the call and slipped the mobile phone inside the pocket of her jeans and put her diary and pencil back in the jacket. She looked up in sky, stretched her arms and sighed before she spoke,

“Ok buddy! We are done for the day!”

“You got what you were looking for?” Zoro asked as he actually had no idea what they really did all this time and what notes had she been taking all the way when they used to stop at various places, her methods of work were not conventional.

“No, but I will soon. Thanks Corporal Roronoa Zoro! You didn’t ask a single question, didn’t disturbed me at all, in fact you helped without me giving any real instructions, you are good assistant to have around and you have a really well maintained bike! I like her!” Jane said caressing the metal surface of the bike as if the bike she was petting a cat or puppy or some pet animal.

“Gee! Thanks! Please call me Zoro. It’s just Zoro."

"No problem, Just Zoro!" snorted Jane, he shook his head, 'smart ass!' thought Zoro smirking,

"You seem to like bikes and cars more than you like actual people! Not that I mind you getting all sentimental with my bike!” he said scratching back of his head with his hand,

"Yeah??"

She glanced at him after her said that and he smirked at her, she gave hearty laughter after that. Zoro felt good hearing her laugh, his all-time furrowed brows relaxed for a second, he spoke again,

“So, whenever you wanna tell, I am all ears! About why you were emptying your pocket giving away the money to all homeless people of town.” He said making weird hand gestures. She gave him a smirk before she spoke as her face lit up while she talked,

“Yeh! I actually ended up taking up all your money too hun! Sorry about that! But the thing is I had to do it! Do you think only cameras keep an eye! They are my eyes and ears over the city! Where all my high tech gadgets fail they provide the right info. Have you seen BBC Sherlock Holmes Zoro? I got that idea from there.” She said with a genuine smile, Zoro was awestruck; he gave a ‘What in the he…?’ look,

“Really? It’s hard to believe coming from you…..umm….you are fan of this Sherlock guy, you mentioned him twice. Man! I am so jealous!” Zoro said before his could control himself. ‘What the fuck am I doing! Am I really flirting at her? Shit!’ Zoro said in his mind as he could not control his smirk, smile won't leave his face.

She glanced at him again and laughed again. He loved that laughter of hers. That also brought wider smile on his face, he spoke again,

“So, what we do now! Its almost 3 am, you wanna have some beer or grab a bite maybe? I know a good place!” Zoro said with unconfident voice. He saw her eyes getting widen at the mention on beer and she smiled a little still looking at the bike.

“Good idea! I will buy you a drink as compensation for taking up all your money! C’mon get on” She said pointing her head to bike at the backside.

‘Wow! That was easy! She is so easy to talk with, not like that money hungry Witch like Nami, not heartless and emotionless like Robin, not like that make up idiot Perona, not so gentle and soft like kaya, not whiney and always worried like Vivi, not so damn bulky and bossy like Bonny, not busty and pushy like Boa, not dominating like Kuina, not prissy like Tashigi…she is different than all of them, sure she is all too boyish and somewhat rude but that is what makes her so cool… 

“I am willing to give her to you every day if you are buying me drink like this!” He said with a sexy smirk which was returned by Jane and she shook her head as Zoro was getting on the backseat.

\--------

Zoro took her to the Brook’s, the place was lively and had a good music. They had two beers and were having third while they enjoyed the music but they didn’t talk that much just were the occasional taunts, smirks and small-talks. Zoro knew that it was absolutely stupid to ask anything personal stuff to her. He was just enjoying being around the person of his recent obsession. He still could not believe that he was with Jane since all this time and now he actually got her to buy a drink for him. They were seated on the bar stools near each other and the stools on other side of Jane were empty while there were people seated on the other side of Zoro.

Jane was leaning on the counter on her left side and facing Zoro, while her right foot was tapping gently with the beats of music, she was staring at the ceiling and lights, occasionally taking glances at the dance floor and rest of the bar while she had rested her left hand on the wooden surface. Zoro was seated with the back at the dance floor but was slightly angled so as to seat facing Jane and looking at the various bottles there were placed behind the glass doors and shelf, occasionally talking to Jane and his friend named Brook. Zoro kept stealing glances at Jane which was getting noticed by her but she did not mind or she did not show even if she did. A girl with black short skirt and white, almost a ‘see through’ shirt which showed her black bra, made her way to the calm beer enjoying duo.

Zoro noticed the busty blond girl made her way over them and leaned on Jane from back side, she saw Zoro staring at her and Jane. She sneaked her arm around Jane and made Jane look at her, now Jane was face to face with her big boobs who were practically failing to remain inside the fabric,

“Hey Handsome! Like what you see?” She said leaning more on to Jane from the side where there was an empty bar stool near Jane’s position. After listening a girl hit on Jane Zoro nearly choked on his bear. Actually due to her jacket covering her chest and the straps she used to wrap around her bosom, Jane’s boobs were totally concealed, she had short blond hair and snapback still on, and with her jeans showing her perfect muscled and lean, slender hips and perfect ass Jane looked like a handsome, lean muscular teenager boy with skaters outfit and she was quite tall for a girl too. Zoro thought that the busty blond girl mistook her for a guy.

“Sorry beautiful, I like guys! No girls!” Jane said while she turned her face a little to take a seep from the bottle.

“Aw! C’mon, at least try me once! I am sure you would start liking girls!” the girl said moving to place so as to stand in between Zoro and Jane.

She started rubbing her body on Jane's, her weight was on Jane’s legs, almost trying to get into her lap, moving her hands from Jane’s face and shoulders, that girl tried to seduce Jane, Jane was trying to push her back gently not to hurt the girl much but the busty girl moved her hands on her chest and then her hands suddenly travel to the area dangerously close to where she should not have, her groin, that would have given Jane's secret away.

Jane suddenly put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and stood up, pushed the girl away forcefully, making the girl stand on her feet and went closer to Zoro, put an arm around his shoulders. Zoro got self-conscious as Jane came closer, he developed a slight blush at the thought of Jane's hands on him, he was already feeling awkward seeing a stager girl flirting with Jane like she was a boy. Jane now leaned on him from side and Zoro stole a glance at Jane, his cheeks going red with blush,

"I can do both of you, you know! We would enjoy even more!" said the girl and moved to closer, Jane smiled at the girl warmly gesturing her to stop and pointed the bottle in her hand to Zoro and spoke calmly,

“You see girly, this hunk here is my boyfriend and he would get pissed off if you touched my private parts in public place.” Jane said quickly and Zoro the sprayed the beer he had in his mouth over that girl standing in front of them, she squeaked and yelled, “Eww!” before she ran out of the site _they guessed_ to washroom.

“Well done Zoro.” Jane said petting his shoulder and she ordered yet another beer for them while she got back into her seat like nothing out of place had happened.

“Really! She mistook you for a guy?” Zoro said in uneasy voice and gritted his teeth the next moment making ‘what the hell am I doing’ face ,looking away from her as he thought that he may have already offended her saying this.

“Yup, that is one possibility!” she said as if she did not mind his question and Zoro relaxed his face thanking Gods that Jane did not get offended by his hilarious statement and stating the obvious.

“One?” he dared ask again.

“Yah! one, she thought I was a guy, two… she was into girls, three…. she was a prostitute trying to earn, fourth and most possibly correct…. she was paid to do what she did?” she said in same careless tone while sitting exactly the way she was before the busty girl came in and disturbed them.

“Paid?” Zoro thought aloud.

“Yup, I saw her twice with that blonde guy who gave her money and he was pointing to us, or maybe to you.”

“Blond guy?” Zoro got tensed and he suspected that there may be people from his ‘ _Mugiwara’_ group present here, but he had come here as he had thought that given this time was so odd like 3 am and at this hour of night, mostly everybody from grope must have left.

“Yeah! Blond dude over there at the dance floor with red head girl, look!” She pointed to some guy on dance floor with bottle in her hand, Zoro tuned his head a little followed the direction she was pointing at and her gaze, he saw something that made Zoro go furious all of a sudden. He gritted his teeth and cursed ‘Shit cook!’ under his breath. It was Sanji, he was swooning and saying something in her ears while they dance and talked.

“Oh! Sorry for that, I actually know him! He is such an asshole!” Zoro said making his back to face the dance floor again.

“Oh! Don’t worry, nothing happened. I have habit of people treating me like that. I mean, that is the whole point of the disguise we put, I am happy that it all happened the way it did, it just proves the more that I am good at what I do” She said shrugging.

“I am amazed that you even noticed that thing with all this crowd around us. You have eagle eyes” he said now looking at her face and staring openly.

“Well, I am a Hawkeye! I have to have that ability to work there. You are not bad yourself, you found out who I am, remember?” she said smirking at him, he smiled in returned.

They enjoyed three more beers and then went outside the place.

\------

“So Zoro, this is goodbye!” Jane said dusting her clothes and adjusting her hoodie over her head.

“So, finally you are going home?” Zoro asked disappointed, he was having such a good time after a while. 

“Yup! Had good time Zoro, now I gotta get back to work!” She said checking something in her old small diary.

“What! Work? Seriously? Dude! Take a break!” Zoro said in astonishment.

“Zoro? Didn’t we just take a break! It was nice! You know I haven’t had a beer for a while! It is a good place” She looked up from her diary for a second there and gave a ‘Isn’t that obvious’ look to Zoro.

‘Yeah! The owner is a friend! Book! He is a nice guy!” Zoro said with pride.

“That old dude was your friend, no wonder they accepted that lame card payment of mine!” she said smirking as she looked for a cab.

“Che! Don’t worry about it! Shall I drop you home? Or on second thought I should not be…” Zoro said scratching back of his head while Jane already had her eyes on her diary again.

“Nope, I will take a cab!” She said making funny ‘ppppp’ sound and closed the diary, put it in her pocket and took out her mobile phone and the headphones. Zoro went closer to her unknowingly but stopped when it hit him, ‘mobile phone! I need the Number! Her number?’ He thought.

“Oh! Let us exchange numbers!” Zoro spoke nervously.

“Oh! Yeah! Wait, I will text you! Tell me your number.”

“Umm, it’s XXXXXXXXXX” he told her number and she started typing.

“Look, the displayed number is not mine but the call or the texts will come to my number none the less, so trying to trace and stuff won’t work, so don’t bother!” She said typing something on the screen of her Mobile phone.

“Why would I? I just wanted to have your number! May be we can have a beer again sometime!” Zoro asked taking out his phone and waited for Jane to text him.

“Sure we can! You know I just can’t help the thing, it’s an occupational hazard! Force of Habit you know. Here, I texted you, you should have the number now!” she said raising and dropping her shoulders with her dialogues.

“I don’t mind your habit! Thanks for the drink” Zoro opened the text and read; it said, ‘Hieya Zoro, it’s ma number – Jane J.’ He inwardly smiled at the text and saved the number as JJ.

Zoro was about to put his cell phone back into his pocket but he got a text, he found that it was Sanji who texted him, _‘Moss head, looks like you found a guy at last?’_ the text said. Zoro frowned at the text and thought for a moment what to reply and suddenly started tying furiously,

 _‘U shud njoy ur date, don’t waste ur money on tryin to get sm girl to get into my boyfriend’s pants!’_ Zoro replied back to Sanji’s text and felt satisfied at the fact that Sanji did not reply within seconds as Sanji always did so as to outsmart Zoro every time.

“You sure you would find your way back home from here?” Jane saying looking at her mobile phone and tapping on it and deciding which playlist she wanted to have her mobile phone played. Then she looked up and waved a hand at a cab, the cab immediately drove near them to stop in front of Jane.

“Yeah! It is my regular route, I will.” Zoro said a little embarrassed, as he knew there was no point in hiding and denying that he usually gets lost, Jane had it figured out just fine. Zoro received another text, he opened it to find out that Sanji had finally replied back,

_WTF Marimo! Fuck you!’_

Zoro smirked at the text and sent another text to him,

 _Nope! You have lost that privilege, curlybrow’._ Zoro replied and smirked at his phone. He noticed Jane opening the Cab door after talking to the cabbie,

“Good bye Zoro!” she said getting inside the cab and he also waved his hands saying ‘bye’ to her as the cab took off.

“Bye Jane!” He whispered to himself and closed his eyes for a second, her smirking face was there still in his mind, he sighed in satisfaction and went to the parking to take the bike and go home. Zoro did not receive any text from Sanji after that one.


	5. Dinner? Stout and meat!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jane Zoro getting to know each other  
> Slight Mihawk/Shanks  
> Kid/Law  
> Dirty talk  
> little BSDM, spanking, blood, master-slave kink  
> Law is kinky!

 

 

The 18th floor of Hawkeye tower was still alive even after it was supposed to be calm and quiet after the working hours were finished, the people working for the whole day were leaving and those who worked in the night were replacing them, ‘the hawk always keeps an eye’ they say, that was their motto, the tower never slept, never slowed down and thus never they rested as they managed to tackle every situation skillfully, every unit had been skillfully chosen and people were handpicked, while the team captain and field agents only remained irreplaceable whole supporting office switched with their replacement continuously, day or night, field agents got the support from office 24 hours. Jane’s unit was no different, Jane was the captain, Law was vice captain while Usopp was the field tech support and Jane had very skilled and intelligent analyst Vivi, they still needed two more skilled fighters as Kid also had left the Unit, Jane and Law were actual strength of 18th EU. All the Enigma unites from 10 to 22 were put in work so that half of them worked in day and half on them in night. Eustass kid, after working with Unit 18 for 2 years, has been given a new Unit to handle as he became a team captain of 19 who handled the work in night in place if unit 18. Law had also been offered the separate unit to lead but he chose to work with his best friend Jane.

Members and identities of Stealth enigma unites from 1 through 9 were highly classified as they only gathered information while they remained anonymous and invisible for anybody in the other Enigma Unites and everybody others and they were the agents those never came in contact with others working for Mihawk, they reported directly to Mihawk and they were only answerable to him. It was because of these Unites Mihawk had reliable information and data of world’s most important incidents and people.

It was long past the regular working hours for 18th Unit but as usual Jane was still in office, others in her team were no longer on the floor and Shanks had already threatened her with locking down her office but Jane was busy putting all the notes and photos on her white board about the info she had been gathering about the O’Hara case. She preferred to work on this case alone, she did not want her innocent team members to get involved with the O’hara case anymore as she knew the assassins, killers, gangsters and what not were after the girl she was looking for, so she figured that it would be better if she only pursued it all by herself,

She was scanning with the eyes all the data put in front of her and she had two laptops and a whole bunch of new newspaper cuttings lying on her coffee table, some papers were on the sofa as well, her office was locked from the inside and she was working their alone for 2 hours undisturbed now, but …… she finally had to face a disturbance when..........

Her office phone started ringing, she frowned at the sound but ran to the table none the less and pushed the button to connect the line,

“Yeah?” asked Jane in tired voice and suddenly some idea popped into her mind so she held the pen in her hand between her lips and freed her hands to take out her mobile phone, typed in something while Law did the talking,

"......"

She received a mail as her laptop beeped, Law was talking but Jane did not pay attention,

“Jane-ya! You there?” Law yelled as he got no response from Jane.

“Humm…humm” She hummed keeping her pen in place between her lips,

“Jane ya, Me and Usopp ya are going to _Baratie_ , miss Kaya and Miss Vivi are also coming. Come with us today, I want you to meet with my friends.” Came a deep voice, it was Law. Jane made a tired face and dropped her shoulders,

“Law, I need at least need one more hour here, I would call you when I am finished ok? You go on ahead; I will join you afterwards if possible.” Jane said taking a pen out from her mouth and scribbling something on a piece of paper and sticking the note in her information board and keeping her phone in pocket again.

“You always do that! I just want you to meet them because they would be with us when we would be on the vacation you know!” Law said accusing her a bit. Her mobile phone beeped but she ignored the received text and she frowned before she spoke;

“Yeah! Yeah! Like I am going to come!” She then took her mobile phone out again, but did not check the text but started looking for the images she had taken while she was investigating down town area two days back and then she made another note on the information sheet firmly secured on the white board.

“You are coming and that is……”

Law was furious but he suddenly stopped which earned him an eyebrow raise from Jane, she glanced at phone and she heard him clearing his throat and continued in his calm voice again,

“……. Okay! Let us have a deal, I would bring your Agusta back and that too with new gadgets then you would be coming to meet my friends at least once before the vacation. Deal?”

When he mentioned the bike Jane stopped scribbling and closed her eyes in annoyance, she put her hands on hips and turned away from the board she was writing on,

“I knew you guys had it disassembled! What have you done with her you morons?” She asked stomping her feet and coming closer to the desk.

“So, …. Deal?” Law was being stubborn but she wanted her beloved bike back as she loved it far too much to buy another one.

“Okay, Deal!” She said in defeat. Her mobile phone beeped again indicating that she had another text message.

“Hey, you moved to 49th floor? Means yours available? Can I take it?” Law asked awkwardly.

“Yeah you can, now leave me alone!” she said as she face palmed,

“Yeah! yeah! bye!” said Law and she ended the call and looked at the mobile phone. Both were Zoro’s text.

“ _Robocop needs a beer brck too :)_ ” She raised an eyebrow at his first text .................‘So, I am a Robocop now?’ she thought and checked the second text.

“ _Hey! wud hv I to bcm a homeless to c u again?_ :P” She smirked at that and decided to reply.

“ _Nup, getting lost in d city would be enough, call me of u need a lift hulk head_ :P” She replied and did not put her phone away this time but waited for Zoro’s reply.

“ _Wow! Dat was easy, so I just hav to walk out of d division._ :P” Came his reply.

“ _Negative_ …. _Still need an hr, C ya at Brook’s @10_.” She replied.

“ _K! C ya!_ ” She got reply from him within seconds. She put the phone away and started working with all her clues and information again.

After about an hour she left her office and went out in her office car.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**_After about an hour ........_ **

Jane drove to the Brook’s Place, parked her car at the backside of the bar where space was available and made her way to the entrance, it was unusually quiet outside though the place was filled with people, today music was slow and different, she was about to turn around a corner and was taking her cell-phone out to give Zoro a call but heard some loud voices. She walked faster in the direction of sounds of yelling to find out there were some people fighting and shouting just outside the premises. She stood there contemplating if to go and make them stop or to let go as that may give away her identity but she caught glimpse of unmistakable green hair right in the middle of five people trying to land a blow on him, she looked closely and her eyes widened.

'Zoro!' thought Jane and her eyes narrowed on them, quickly she ran to the place,

The car came rushing there as she made her way to Zoro, door of the car opened and sixth person came rushing to the group Zoro was currently overpowering and the guy had a tyre lever in his hand, Jane ran to them as she saw the man raising the metal piece up in the air so as to hit Zoro on head for good from the back side. She took in the situation quickly as the man with the tyre lever noticed her running towards him, he turned and widened his eyes at her sudden arrival but before he could do much she hit him in his solar plexus, he dropped the lever and there was a ‘thunk’ sound of metal on the road. He then took another attack from Jane to lose his consciousness and fell on ground; before he even fell to the ground she quickly hit the remaining men one by one and the two men lost their consciousness as well. Zoro had beaten shit out of the remaining two men by then and was having a guy choked under his arm,

“Jane, I need at last one, leave this one, will ya?” He said chocking a guy and putting his foot on the injured leg of a man lying on stomach and Zoro had his arm around the man’ throat and his hand was bent uncomfortably on his arched back.

“Arrrgh! You son of a bitch!” the man spat as Zoro almost made man cry in pain bending backwards the hand painfully.

“Tell me why the hell you guys attacked me?” Zoro said in deep serious voice.

“We got paid, you doofus! I don’t know anything else.” Man yelled in pain.

“Who the hell paid you to beat me?” he asked chocking him a little more.

“Don’t know! We got 80000 bucks just to try to beat the shit out of you when we were in the bar, I swear I don’t know anything else.” He whined.

“How does he look like?” Zoro said releasing the grip just a little on his throat and leaving his leg now.

“It was a girl. Blond girl with brown eyes and black dress, I don’t know, she went away after that. I have never seen her around before.” He said as he tried to hit Zoro but

Zoro just hit him on the back of his head and he dropped him in the ground out cold. Zoro rubbed his hand which had a bruise and took his radio out to call the police.

“Jane, am gonna call the black and whites to take these bozos to the jail cell, you might wanna stay away from them” He said and Jane nodded to him after checking his bruise on the arm herself, Zoro felt butterflies in his stomach when Jane took his arm to check the wound.

“I will be in the parking lot.” She said examining his bruise and he nodded, she then went to the parking to sit on some bike and wait for Zoro.

He reported the case and a police van nearby came and apprehended those people, Zoro told them to get a sketch artist to get a sketch of the girl who sent those people after him.

\--------

After the police went away Zoro made his way inside the gate into the parking lot, he spotted Jane sitting on his own parked bike, she was reading something from her tablet device and he went over to where Jane was sitting,

“Hey Jane! Thanks for that dude!” Zoro said waving at her.

“Hey! What was that all about?” She looked up from what she was doing on her tab and raised her hand to wave back, Zoro came closer before he spoke,

“Don’t know, just parked the bike and went outside the gate to call you but they attacked me out of the blue! That tyre lever would have done real bad! You saved my ass from hell of an injury!” Zoro said scratching back of his head with his hurt left arm.

“Not your ass, your head!” She smirked at him and he returned the gesture with little flushed cheeks which were unnoticed by Jane as it was quite dark outside.

“Zoro, how is that bruise? It looks bad, wanna go and see doct?” Jane asked quickly.

“Nah! It’s nothing. I will sleep on it! So, you and Jiu Jitsu hun?” he asked looking at his shirt which was messed up now, he could not wear it again as the sleeve was badly torn off.

“A bit!” She said keeping the tablet away and taking out her mobile phone. He looked at her with surprised face.

“A bit? You kidding me, you were amazing! So, you interested in Kendo too?” Zoro asked enthusiastically. She noticed him speaking the word Kendo more affectionately than Jiu Jitsu.

“Hell yeah! Kendo, Jiu Jitsu, Taek Wondo, Judo, Savate and some boxing too!” She said making the boxing gestures, throwing her fist in air towards Zoro.

“Damm! You are a full package!” Zoro said praising her.

“Not really! I am not that good at kendo but Jiu Jitsu, TaekWondo are my favorites. I have had really great trainers for all of them though. As far as swords are concerned, I cannot surpass my br….I mean my _Sensei_ as you call it, I have been trying all these years... so damned hard...but.” She said in somewhat disappointed manner.

“I can help you with Kenjutsu and Kendo, if you want!” Zoro said, he noticed her hesitation and her affection towards the swords. ‘Was she saying brother instead of master? Is her brother a swordsman? That would be great!’ Zoro thought.

“That would be interesting! You actually do that with actual swords?” She asked taking interest in Kenjustu. [Kenjutsu – Swordsmanship]

“Yup, I love Swords! I am actually Japanese; I have been trained in Japanese way of swords by my dad since I was a kid!” Zoro said in proud voice.

“Great! east blue eh? I was trained after I was adopted. I wanted to be solider back then!” She quickly spoke but closed her eyes all of a sudden and furrowed her brows as if she regretted speaking that. Zoro noticed her expressions, felt bad that he made her talk about personal stuff unknowingly.

“Adopted! You orphan too hun? Me too. Anyways, You had a dinner?” he said in uneasy voice and tried to change the topic.

“Not yet!” She said absent-mindedly and jumped on the ground from where she was sitting at.

“I say we have something to eat as well as beer, you okay with takeaways or wanna go to a restaurant?” Zoro asked trying to sound normal but it was clear that it was his first time asking somebody other than friend to have a dinner with him.

‘Aww! He is nervous! Does he think that I would take it as he is asking me out on a dinner? Is it his first time doing that?’ Jane thought.

“Nope. …..no restaurant! I say….um……Stout with roasted spicy meat or may be grilled fish!” Jane said with blank face, it was her first time too, to go out for dinner with somebody other than Lucci, Shanks or her friends from the office.

‘She sounds different! Did she think that I was asking her out? I actually remembered her eating sandwich that day late night! She looks tired! I just asked like that, I thought she might not have had dinner yet! Shit! Why these things are do difficult!’ Zoro thought.

“Okay! Good idea! Roasted meat sounds Yum yum! I will go get our stout and then we are going to a place where I know they have great place to enjoy football games and barbecue!” Zoro said as if he was thinking something very hard. He scooted to the Bar as he spoke, Jane nodded and gave thumbs up.

“Hey Zoro, I have a car today! Keep your bike here!” Jane yelled at him and went to car.

“K! I will be back in a flash!” yelled back.

\---------------------------------------

Jane took her car out of the car park, waited for Zoro, he sure was taking his time. After 30 minutes Zoro came with good stock of stouts and whiskey, but his mood seemed totally off. He got into car and told Jane about the place where they had a best Barbecue in the area, she fed the information in her tab and navigated accordingly as she had never been that place before.

“Dude, you look royally pissed? Is that anything to do with those buggers we beat up?” Jane asked in serious voice.

“What! No! Not at all. It’s just this guy, always bitching! He gets on my nerves! I don’t know what to do!” Zoro said as he just had a fight with Sanji while he was in the bar taking out the Stouts and he was pissed that Sanji had to ruin the mood,

“A guy? Bitching? Seriously?” Jane asked with disbelief.

“Yah! It is my mistake though. Seems he enjoys pissing me off very much!” Zoro said sarcasm dripping in his tone.

“Ah! Good chemistry!” Jane said in mocking tone as she stole a glance at Zoro from corner of her eyes to find his eyebrow twitch at her statement and that made her smirk.

“Jane! It is not like that, I mean it is like that but just for me. Or I guess it was. Shit! forget it! I don’t even know what to think anymore” Zoro said in pissed off voice as he closed his eyes and signed in frustration.

“Whoaa, relax man! Stop sulking! See, we all have some things to bitch about!” Said Jane and smiled at him when he opened his eyes to look at her. He then looked away as her smile made him blush a little, he looked out of the car at left side of the road, he found the place they were going at,

“Over there! Look! That is the place!” he said. Jane took in the look of place and she was satisfied with the total feel of the place,

“It looks nice enough!”

“Told ya!” Zoro said smirking.

They went inside, after the reception desk and the whole hotel like thingy, there was a huge backyard, chairs and tables placed neatly, people were seated in gropes, some couples were there, there was a big screen on the backside of the hotel, they were displaying the football game, people were enjoying beer and barbecue along with the match. Jane noticed most of the couples were the gay couples; there were few girls around the place as well. As they made their way farther in back yard, Jane noticed some people were also sitting on the ground on the picnic mats. The atmosphere was friendly and joyful enough.

“Place has its charm, I can see why you like it. It’s public but private! No need of all formal, neat and tidy clothes and the being all composed and keep your mannerism!” Jane said noticing that Zoro was actually feeling homely here, he was relaxed and his pissed off mind was at somewhat ease.

“Yah!” Zoro said when he found just the right place to sit at.

\-------------------------------

They settled their things and themselves on one table and the big comfy chairs around it and ordered food. They were enjoying their food and beer, Jane noticed that Zoro was enjoying the game way too much. They did not talk much but Jane liked the atmosphere there, people, beer, food and also his company. Both were watching the match, it was near an end and Zoro was happy as his favorite team was about to win.

“Jane! You like to watch the ball?” Zoro asked casually stealing a glance at Jane who was also watching match while she was looking very comfortable in the chair and seeping her beer.

“Not that much! But it’s good once a while!” She said without taking her eyes off the screen.

“So, martial arts but no sports?” Zoro asked confused at her answer.

“No way in hell! I like Basketball, volley ball, skates and tennis” She said looking at him and raising her bottle in air as she spoke,

“Fair enough! I bet you have good aim too! You tried archery?” Zoro asked smirking while he emptied his bottle and was opening the other.

“Nope, but am good with guns! Pass me another one too.” Jane said putting her empty bottle on the ground lazily. He opened two bottles and handed over one to Jane, she gave him a playful nod and earned a his raised eyebrow and smirk.

“Thought so you were good at it, so how you like the food here?” He asked as game ended and screen started displaying songs.

“It’s good! I like the ambiance more! And air here is making me damn lazy!” She said sliding down the chair as she took her kneed closer to her chest.

“Betch ya! I like this place far too much! You sure can handle your liquor!” Zoro said shrugging.

“You don’t know yet!” she smirked and winked at him and that made him shake his head.

“I guess I spoke too soon!” He said stealing a glance at her while he snorted.

“Nah! Was just pulling your leg!” She said as the matter of fact.

“Oh! I don’t mind! So, …..um……….you got any important clues after that day?”

Zoro asked glancing at her again from the corner of his eyes at her slumped down form on the big chair and smiling inwardly. She was lazily slumped on the comfy chair and had her head thrown back lazily, her eyes were half lidded, ‘She looks so damn delicious, for the first time in my life............ I have this uncontrollable urge.... to jump on her and feel those lips! Kiss a girl! Shit, why the game had to end, it was perfect distraction, now I can’t look away!’ Zoro swallowed thickly,

“This case is quite complicated! I am actually told to give up but I am still following up a lead. Let us see what happens..” She said casually but did not tell anything and trying to get off the topic.

“Haven’t given up on any case yet! You guys have very less unsolved ones, I know!” Zoro said as the matter of fact.

“You are so much interested in us” Jane said turning her head so as to face him.

"Yah! I am gonna join up with you guys soon, every little formality has been taken care of,  it’s just matter of my performance now!”  Jane shot up in her seat and her eyes were open fully and she was looking at him with disbelief.

“Yup I have already decided to quite the GLPD. Sarg Smoker talked me into it.” Zoro said shrugging. She nodded and relaxed in her chair again.

“Oh! Smokey! How is that old man doing?” She continued this time.

“Kicking asses as usual! How do you guys know each other?” Zoro asked quickly, he was looking into the bag for another pair of bottles.

“We..Um…….We actually..” Jane was talking casually but Zoro cut her off,

“No, on second thought, I should not be asking you this, may be later when I will actually join up with you guys. I know it’s not easy to share or talk when you can’t trust somebody.” Zoro quickly said in serious voice but smiled a little while taking bottles out and placing them on table.

Jane was slowing, he was about to empty his beer but Jane had more than half left this time. She stopped talking and did not say anything for few minutes as he continued seeping his beer and chewing on the meat, he took one small stool and put his legs on it crossed and got relaxed in his seat.

“Zoro, we have texted for few days and this is just second time we are hanging around!” Jane said in very calm voice, her head now tuned so as to face him.

“So, you are saying that after knowing somebody for years you can place your trust in them? Because I honestly think it is not like that!” Zoro said looking at her dead in the eye as he had tuned his head to face her too. He could see that her eyes showed pain and they were somewhat glassy. ‘What did I say wrong? Why she feels sad? There is no expression on her face but her eyes seem sad! Am I hallucinating or beer is working me up!’ Zoro thought. She went silent after that and turned her head back to face the screen after giving a half-hearted smile to Zoro. He could not take his eyes off her, he kept staring at her while he had his head rested on the back of the chair.

He continued further, very calmly and softly, very unlike Zoro, if anybody from the group would have heard him speaking like this, they would have asked Chopper or Law to fix Zoro or something,

“Jane, anybody can betray you anytime, you just have to observe their actions to try to avoid the serious blow to your world and still have stomach for the pain. You always feel the pain; trick is you just don’t have to fear it. My dad’s friend, I knew him since I got adopted there, my father knew him for more than 15 years. He tried to murder my sister; I did not know what went wrong and what made him do that. Doctors were able to save her, but she had been hit on her head very badly, she was in coma for months, police caught the guy but damage was already done. Kuina was in shock for many days even after she got recovered from that god awful Coma. She was stronger than me when we were kids, she used to beat me up all the time in kendo fights. But she lost all her memories, she recovered but never got her memories back, she never was the Kuina I knew and the guy still is in the prison but what is the point.” When Zoro had started telling about his father Jane had tuned her head to face him, she keenly listened to all Zoro had to say.

After few minutes of silence,

“I am so sorry Zoro, I……….. don’t know what to say. But at least she is alive and you have her with you in person. You can actually make her happy, talk to her, you can celebrate holidays and birthdays with her, you can smile with her and you can always make new memories. Ultimately what is important is that she is alive.” Jane said as she looked away from his gaze and fixed her eyes on screen again.

“Yah! That is what father says, I could not bear it and left Japan after that incident.” Zoro said in low voice and sighed after he emptied his bottle.

“You should not be telling me these things Zoro!” She said in low voice, hugging her knees and quickly stealing a glance at Zoro.

“Humm! Don’t worry! I trust you and as I said I am ready for consequences!” He said opening another bottle while he took a big chunk of meat and stuffed it in his mouth.

“You are crazy you know that!” Jane said in amused tone, as she shook her head and then started seeping her beer.

\-----

They did not talk much after that but enjoyed silence none the less, both were so comfortable that they did not want to go anywhere from there. They occasionally shared words and laughed at the occasional jokes and taunts. Jane found out that it was extremely easy to talk with him and he understood her well.

\------------------

**_In the Galley La tower…. that is Hawkeye tower,_ **

Shanks’ apartment or we may call it Shanks’ floor.

Shanks and Mihawk were in his study, Mihawk was having his favorite wine, he was seated on the couch and was reading something from his tab. Shanks was looking at he reports he received from Unit 15, Shanks was at his working desk in his study, he also was monitoring the 13th units actions as he was getting live feed of the crime scene,

“Shanks, you need to see this, look!” Mihawk placed the wine glass on the small glass table in front of the couch and made his way over Shanks while saying that,

Shanks looked up from the reports and the files that were on his desk and decreased the volume of the audio feed he was getting at his place, Mihawk placed his tab on the desk on the files Shanks was currently looking at and leaned over him placing his hand on Red head’s shoulders and bending over, placing his chin in his head,

“What you got here?” asked Shanks leaning back to relax against Mihawk’s warm chest and closing his eyes as he was felt relaxed as he took Mihawk’s musky scent in,

“Jane!” said Mihawk and that made Shanks open his eyes,

“Jane?” asked Shanks confused. Mihawk cupped Shanks chin and made him look at the screen of tablet.

“Yah! Right now she is at the G.D’s Grand line BBQ. She is with this guy since more than hour and it’s the same guy she is been texting recently” said Mihawk as he gawked at Shanks, taking in his funny expressions and reactions,

“Oh! She is at Barbecue place. Good! At least he got her to eat!” Shanks said making ‘Wow!’ face and reading the report Mihawk had gotten recently.

“Shanks, he is Zoro. Zoro Roronoa, I had almost cut him in half last time I saw him, he is the one who had challenged me when he was mere a teen. It’s that guy! Now, there is also another aspect, I don’t know what to make of all these facts. The thing is he is been selected as our field agents, he is good at what he does and you will have to test his physical strength before he joins in, that’s only thing left, he has passed all our exams. I run a background check on him, has good file and track record, I checked with his SWAT records, he worked with Smoker” Mihawk said standing up and putting both his hands on Shank’s shoulder as he massaged his shoulders with the thumbs.

“So, he is from East countries or East blue, he is swordsman, a SAWT guy but wants to leave GLPD and work with us, Jane knows him, he makes her text even, so is he not good for Jane I mean is he gonna harm her for info or something?” Shanks was confused and worried for Jane.

“No! no! That kid is not manipulative, he has got good heart and enough guts! I don’t know what they know about each other but I got another report. You remeber that the day she went out of the building and we had problem contacting her, she was with Smoker and Roronoa was there with them.” Mihawk said and narrowed his eyes as he actually found knots in the muscles of Shanks’ shoulders, he knew the Red-head trained everybody and had excessive workout daily; he was far too hard working fellow but he did take time to relive the stress on his body. Shanks made a sound of satisfaction at the back of his throat as he felt his muscles relax as thumbs pressed against his stiff muscles,

“Humm! Feels so good Mihawk!” He whispered closing his eyes as he threw his head back in satisfaction.

“How come you have stiff shoulders babe!” Mihawk whispered as he continued working on his lover’s shoulders.

“I don’t need to worry about them as you are there! By the way she had told me that she met somebody who had green hair; she also met Kuzan that day!” Shanks said opening one eye, he noticed Mihawk had a frown on his face.

“She told you?” Shanks smirked at Mihawk’s annoyed tone.

“Yeah! She did.” Shanks said making a proud daddy face and stopped Mihawk’s hands working on his shoulders as he leaned back and took Mihawk’s hands in his own while resting his head on Mihawk’s stomach. Mihawk took back one of his hands, bent down and caressed Shanks’ throat as brought his face closer to Shanks.

“I have yet another news for you.” Mihawk said in husky voice.

“What is that?” whispered Shanks, Mihawk bent little down and kissed Shanks quickly. After they pulled apart he stood straight again and said,

“Open that file, one at extreme left third from top,” Shanks finally took his eyes of his handsome lover and did what he told him and got amazed looking at photo, he then gave a toothy grin while looking at the screen.

“This is Luffy! Luffy is with this Zoro guy, they are friends? Luffy is here in grand line?” Shanks was so happy.

“Yes, apparently this kid Luffy is here with his brother Ace and these all people in the photos are all his friends. Even our people are very good friends with this Luffy brat. He is trouble for me.” Mihawk said changing his tone somewhat bitter. Shanks looked up and saw Mihawk giving Luffy’s photo a death glare, he leaned on him again and took Mihawk’s in his left hand which was once so badly injured when Shanks had saved Luffy from getting killed and they had to go to extreme measures to save his arm and he had almost had to resort to a prosthetic arm. But things got lucky for Shanks and he actually recovered.

“Why you hate him that much baby! He is nice kid. And I had jumped in to save him, he didn’t want that to happen to me you know! He was just 8! I had to save him, he reminded me very much of Sir Roger” Shanks said softly, he felt Mihawk’s thumb making soothing movements on his own hand, though his face was expressionless.

When he had come back all injured, pale due to blood loss and on the verge of losing his arm, Mihawk had first time realized what actually he felt for the Red head. Mihawk knew from very beginning that Shanks had feelings for him, they worked closely for years, since they were teenagers, Shanks did not leave his side even when Mihawk got married. Shanks never asked for anything, he loved Mihawk secretly as he had long since accepted that he could not love anybody else and as Mihawk was straight he had accepted his luck and chose to stay single though he liked teasing Mihawk frequently and Shanks enjoyed being with friends but he never allowed any other guys to warm his bed just for sake of reliving sexual tension.

Shanks had always kept it up to the friendship when it came to Mihawk, never asked anything of Mihawk directly till Shanks felt that Mihawk had similar feelings towards him but was too much proud to say anything. But when Mihawk had seen him badly injured that day, he had an urge to hold the Redhead to his chest but he cursed him instead. Mihawk had made best doctors in the world to fix Shank’s arm, he had not even talked to Shanks for two weeks.

Shanks was just looking at Mihawk and Mihawk looked deep in thoughts as memories of the incident flashed by in his mind and he realized how stubborn he had been all those years, Shanks was right there, he was right with him, always, he could have had this amazing love life years back. Mihawk had done nothing but avoided Shanks because he was too much of a proud to admit that he also had fallen for the Redhead, he was dead set on being stubborn ass as he thought he could never be in love with person of same gender.

“Mihawk?” Shanks said to bring him back from his thoughts, Mihawk moved his eyeballs from the screen to his lover’s face and cleared his throat,

“You have told me that thousands of times before and I don’t hate him. Law, Usopp, Vivi, Kaya, Kid, Killer, they all know these guys. Look at the photos, these are all his friends, I also have evidences that he was the one who took down Arlong gang and the Krieg gang. My team only had found the corps of him and just before I reached the crime scene I had found that Zoro kid, Zoro is now a GLPD SWAT Officer. Luffy is car racer now but I suspect that he runs a gang or something.”  Shanks did not know what to say, he was happy that Luffy was there in grand line and that he had gotten stronger, he also knew some secret about Jane that Mihawk did not. He was happy that Jane was going to meet Luffy with the help of Law.

“Mihawk I don’t think so. He is really good at heart! Law is going to take Jane to meet some of his friends and I think he wants Jane to meet these kids only.” Shanks said in uneasy voice.

“I know, he asked for her bike. I just am going to keep an eye on these brats” Mihawk said as he narrowed his eyes on Shanks tired looking form.

“Yes, she is so attached to that bike, she did not buy new and didn’t even let me buy her any. She asked for a Range Rover yesterday though!” Shanks said as he sighed and put his head on desk,

“Why she asks you to buy everything for her! She earns more than enough for her to feed 20 people and still be left with enough to buy stuff for herself.” Mihawk said annoyed at the fact that they still have to buy her stuff as they used to when she was kid.

“Oh! It’s simple enough! She hates shopping and I practically manage all her money! She has not once asked me how much she has.” Shanks said giving Mihawk toothy grin,

“Pathetic!” Mihawk exclaimed closing his eyes.

“Hey, you are just jealous!” sitting up in his chair Shanks said in amused voice so as to change Mihawk’s mood. Mihawk cracked open his eyes to look into his lover’s mischievous eyes and smirked at him.

“Why would I be jealous? You or me, it’s one and the same!” Mihawk said as he pinched Shanks cheeks playfully.

“She will be a kid to me no matter how much she grows up!” Shanks said raising his hands in air and stretching his body.

“Hm! We share the same feeling, I want her have somebody the way I have you by my side!” Mihawk said as he bent down to lift Shanks up from chair.

He lifted Shanks in his arms and started walking to the couch. Shanks gripped Mihawk’s shoulders for balance and smirked at him.

“I feel honored when I receive compliment from you Mr. Hawkeye Mihawk!” Shanks said in mocking tone in his deep voice as he was put down on his feet. Mihawk snorted at his comment.

Work and tablet was long forgotten after Mihawk had Shanks’ lips captured with his own when Mihawk pressed his body against Shanks who was pinned to the glass wall.

They were now exactly the perfect couple as Shanks had always wanted them to be since years, now somehow unknowingly and unaware of all the complications and problems Shanks and Mihawk had faced, Luffy and Jane had gotten them together for good.

\----------------------------------------

**_In Law’s apartment,_ **

Law was had just come back from the Brook’s place after he had visited _Baratie_ in the evening earlier, all the Mugiwara’s and Law along with Usopp, Kaya and Vivi had nice group dinner where he had invited Jane but she had declined and Zoro also was not present at it but they had found him at Brook’s place later in the evening, taking out lot of Booze he did not tell to where and for whom. Zoro and Sanji had gotten into a fight for some stupid reason the whole group did not know about. When Sanji had followed him out secretly, he had found that Zoro got into a car with somebody and he did not tell about this to anybody but Law who figured that Zoro had finally following his heart and new found crush as Zoro had asked him about him being a bisexual.

\----

Law a very bright student, he was a medical prodigy and he was also famous blogger in world of medicine. He used to write his experiences, his opinions, his case studies under the name ‘Surgeon of Death’ and people who were medical geniuses loved his blog.

He was currently checking his blog and comments and mails he received, Law was seated on his bed and was relaxed resting his back against the wooden headboard, he had a nice dinner though he was upset that Jane did not go with him but he had managed to convince her to meet Luffy and the group if her brought back her bike, he had already told shanks and Mihawk about it and they had agreed.

He was typing something on keypad of the laptop placed on his lap and he had a big book open on his bed from which he had been reading. His phone was put on the book which suddenly started ringing displaying Kid’s number. Law looked at it narrowing his eyes, he just ignored it and let it ring. Kid and Law were now in different teams and Kid’s Unit used to work in the night hours while Jane and team had worked all the day, it was Kid’s job to work now. Law was avoiding Kid since two months as it is he did not feel like talking to him, he thought Kid was getting serious with Law but Kid never showed any sign of wanting a relationship but he enjoyed being with Law none the less.

Phone started ringing again, it was Kid again, Law closed eyes and picked up the call after he gave an inaudible sigh.

“Yes Eustass-ya?” Law asked in tired voice.

“Open up babe, I am just outside door!” Came Kids casual voice and Law started massaging his temple.

“You are not working?” Asked Law in bored voice in serene tone.

“Oh! I got Jane to make Boss switch my unit with 17th yesterday, we too would be working in the daylight now onwards, C’mon tell me the code already!” Kid said getting impatient.

“5-44LDU-SK4” Law said calmly.

“Wow sweetheart! Can’t you complicate it a little more, doctor sexy-pants?” Kid chided on phone and Law’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“Now you have problem with the code that opens doors?” Law said in angry tone.

“Chill man! I was just kidding, why are you so pissed at me anyways?” Kid said shrugging. Law hanged up abruptly as he heard the door opening and Kid making his way in, Kid yelled his name from living room and Law just kept calm and let him find his own way to him.

“I already had a dinner and drinks. Don’t expect me to cook or something nor I am ready to go out with you anywhere” Law said typing something on his laptop as soon as Kid touched his bedroom door,

“I too had dinner; I just came to see ya!” Kid said leaning on the door frame looking keenly at Law.

Law did not look up from his Laptop, he simply ignored Kid’s presence, he did not say a word after telling that he won’t be cooking and stuff, Kid also kept quiet. Law’s phone beeped again, it was Ace this time, Law quickly picked up the call and stood up from bed and went over to the table. That earned his a grunt from Kid, Law opened the diary ignoring Kid completely and started scribbling on it after taking the pen from the drawer. From the looks of it, they were further planning for the winter vacations, Law was talking calmly and was very engrossed talking with Ace and writing something down, Kid did not disturb him at all after that, he listened keenly.

When the call ended, Law wrote one more note before he realized that Kid was standing right behind him, way too closer, Law closed his eyes and sighed,

“Eustass-ya, what are you ..” Law could not complete as Kid had come yet closer.

Kid bent yet forward and now was towering above him, Law was tall himself, like 6’2” but Kid was even taller than him good six inches, a moment later Law felt hot breath against the back of his neck, Law froze in his place, he so much wanted to complain and ask Eustass to get away from him, he was mad at him but he felt warm hands on his waist, thumbs threatening to go inside the Law’s shirt, Law felt an indiscernible shiver running down his spine just from that closeness,

“Why are you avoiding me Trafalgar?” Kid whispered possessively and sliding his hands agonizingly slow so as to tease Law and his calloused hands went further up to embrace Law’s stiff form. Law had decided to shut him off, he would not admit it aloud but he had missed those hands. Law took a sharp breath when Kid’s hand moved to Law’s neck and one hand moved forward as he put gentle warm touches on Law’s throat.

“What happened to you suddenly? Why would you not let me near to you baby?” Kid whispered as he slid his hands further down to Law’s chest and enveloped Law in embrace from back when he closed the distance between their bodies and pushed his muscular chest onto Law’s lean and long back,

Law opened his mouth intending to make him go away but an uncontrolled gasp escaped his mouth when he felt warm, wet lips at the base of his neck, following the gentle touches on skin of his waist as Kid had quickly slid his arm inside Law’s t-shirt.

“Eustass-ya I can’t do this anymore!” Law chastised abruptly and half-heartedly. Kid stopped kissing his neck but did not step away, he pulled out his hands from the t-shirt but kept them on his waist trapping Law in place. Kid had felt Law’s half-hearted reluctance clearly even with the icy voice. Kid knew him well enough, Kid knew what Law wanted was a relationship and not the quick casual fuck.

“I know what you want to say babe but you know it ain’t gonna work! We all know what happened to Jane, so much for perfect relationship she was in with that bastard, now she is total mess. She was better than all of us, now look at her; it’s good that she has all this work others she would have been no more than ordinary girl crying after having heartbreak. I don’t want that to happen to ya! Fuck, I am not even worth it but that does not mean we cannot enjoy! You know I like you, I really like you so much and that is enough as of now.” Kid said putting his weight on the smaller man in his embrace as he slumped on Law.

“No you don’t! I don’t want to be with you like this. Move now.” Law said curtly closing his eyes and gripping the edge of the desk but made no attempt to get away from the embrace. Kid knew if Law would have wanted him to stay away, he would not have let him come inside the apartment in the first place. He was just being stubborn and Eustass wanted him badly. His hands slid down his hips gently but suddenly Law’s right wrist was captured by kid’s strong large left hand to yank Law to face him and hold was tight even for Law to break away from, Law had to turn around, annoyed Law narrowed his eyes on Eustass,

Eustass had his crazy cocky smirk plastered on his face,

“Captain Kid, It is hardly a matter of ti…”

Law’s words were cut off as Kid’s lips sealed over Law’s dried lips in a hungry kiss, Law tried to oppose as he made noise at the back of his throat and put his free hand on Kid’s chest to push him away from the larger man but Kid suddenly fisted Law’s fluffy black hair firmly at the back of his head and changed angle a bit. Law’s protest continued but Kid nibbled hard on Law’s lower lip to make him want to whimper. Law could feel the heat spreading his face, his legs growing weaker, Law opened his mouth as he felt overwhelmed and he gave a silent moan but Kid took advantage and stabbed his tongue deep into Law’s mouth, invading the sweet wet space, tasted every line and corner of Law’s mouth.

Law finally stopped pushing kid away and his hand had lost all the force as he was putting in and he let go the effort of pushing away Kid’s muscular chest. Kid also immediately let go of Law’s wrist which now had a reddish print of Kid’s fingers on his tan skin of slim wrist. As the kiss progressed Law had a pink tinge on his cheeks and he helplessly let Eustass ravish his mouth, Eustass had put his one arm now around Law’s waist which griped Law’s wrist minutes before but his hand still was at back of Law’s head though he had let go of his grip on Law’s hair the moment Law stopped pushing him away, he was caressing Law’s scalp with his fingers.

A calloused hand now slid up Law’s spine from inside the t-shirt sensually which made Law arch his body reluctantly and he put his hands on Kid’s jacket to grip it for balance, Kid pulled out from Law’s mouth as he knew Law was out of breath as he had caught him off guard, Kid now started kissing Law’s Jaw and soon he nibbled on his ear lobe.

“Eustass-ya..stop….” Law said panting as he closed his eyes,

“Eustass-ya stop it! I told you I can no longer..” he was catching his breath but Kid stopped his sentence,

“Shut up, will ya? Ya are lying! You say you don’t want it but your body is responding just fine, look who is hard just from a kiss!” Kid said smirking as he made Law’s lean body move forward by placing his hand on Law’s butt so as to rub Law’s hard cock against the his body and Law blushed madly as he looked away from smirking Eustass, Law’s hands were working on pushing the cocky Redhead away but Law was failing miserably,

“Who would not be… when ….when you do tha…that” Law said between pants as he started gritting his teeth as he tried to contain the embarrassment of the fact that his own treacherous body was responding Kid’s sinful touches though he had decided to talk Kid out of it. He really had become so hard just from kiss, it been a while he had been avoiding Eustass now. This situation in which Law was made him recall the day when this all had started and sometimes he could not help but regret the fact that he even let this happen to himself.

_Law had many lovers and admirers in his life, he had lot of women surrounding him and he knew many of them harbored feelings for him as they allow him in their life just for a night, many placed him in their hearts. He was not only the perfect tall-dark-handsome guy but he was also rich and moreover he was a young miracle worker in  the medical field; he had many girls in his life before he met Kid, he dated and did one night stands too, but they were all women._

_When for the first time Eustass did that to Law, of course against Law's will, when he touched Law the way he should not have and where he should not have, Law had felt his entire body on fire, his dark eyes were filled with lust and making him feel tipsy just by sight of that cocky smug face Redhead changing his expressions only for the want for Law’s body. He had given in so easily, given in to the beast trapping him under his heavenly body, he still remembered the pleasurable shame he had felt for the first time they did it. After that he felt he could never be with any woman like that,_

_When Law had been captured in Kid’s grip for the first time he was shocked at  the fact that how much Law himself liked the blissful closeness and feel of heat rising his cheeks for long enough for Eustass to put his own lips over Law’s. The heat had spread from lips, from cheeks directly to a limp member between his thighs._

_They were investigating in downtown, it was dark, it was night time, they were together at the backside of a bar in the dark alley as they waited for  the suspects to arrive. When Eustass had pinned him against the wall out of the blue and had caught him off guard, Law had not time to do much thinking when he felt warm lips on his own, he had helplessly let the dominating tongue of the Redhead slide inside his mouth for the first time, he had surrendered to the  devilishly handsome Redhead and he had enjoyed getting ravished. The Redheads’ tongue probed the wanting mouth and tested everything inside, making low growls of satisfaction to rumble through Kid’s huge chest against the lean body of Law’s. Since then Law never felt like before, since then it was only Eustass he has always wanted. It has never been normal since then._

Eustass was licking and sucking on Law’s neck but Law was in some deep thoughts when Kid glanced at Law’s face,

“That…what that? I haven’t even done anything yet!” Kid said snapping back Law into present situation, Law had been thinking about their first kiss, it was like this one, dominating Law’s mind, overwhelming him completely, seducing him to give in,

“Please, just go away!” Law said as he did not find anything else to say and argue about. Eustass pulled out from Law’s neck and smirked at the statement and gave a quick kiss on Law’s lips, then cupped Law’s face and smirked at him. Law looked away as his face was all going red from blush and Eustass was not going to leave him like this.

“Nah babe, you don’t want me to go away! Now tell me what you want really or I am going to take you against your will! But from what I know, you would enjoy that way too much more, you kinky bastard.” Kid said now biting at the base of his neck and made Law hiss in pain.

‘Fuck, he is marking me! He does not want the relationship then why mark my body! Cocky Bastard!’ Law thought as he growled at the pleasure he was experiencing accompanied by pain.  

Eustass grabbed Law’s ass with both his hands and lift him up rubbing Law’s hard cock against his half hard one, Law moaned at the sudden contact, sudden pleasurable friction and helplessly wrapped his feet around Eustass' body for some more friction as he gripped tight Kid’s shoulders for balance.

“Yessssss! You want it babe, don’t ya!” Kid said in husky voice, he moved them so that he could put Law down in his king size bed. Eustass pressed some button on the panel near the nightstand and the room went in dim lit mode, also the AC made a quick beeping sound.

“Now Trafalgar Law, tell me how bad you wanna play today? What you wanna me to do? Don’t be shy tell me frankly!” Eustass whispered in Law’s ears and his hands were inside Law’s t-shirt and he started teasing his hard and erect nipples. Eustass knew Law liked it rough, they liked it being spicy. His words were making Law’s body shiver. Law knew he had lost the battle when Eustass had kissed him that way and Law had no heart to stop him from dominating him as Law himself always enjoyed bottoming for Eustass, he could protest all he had wanted but in his heart he knew his body ached for Eustass.

“You want me tie you up?” Asked as he ripped off Laws t-shirt.

“Bastard that was my Favourite t-shirt!” Law yelled at Kid annoyed.

“So you do, you also want me suck you off then?” Kid asked as if he just did not ripped Law’s favourite t-shirt. Kid was working on Law’s jeans and kissing Law’s happy trail. Law was arching his back as he managed to finally curse Kid.

“Fuck you!” Law said as he looked sideways avoiding looking at him as he blushed even more.

“Yes, that is exactly what you will be doing babe! Tell me you want me talk dirty?” Kid asked while he took off the belt and jeans off his legs. Law was now left in his blue boxers, his leaking member has been wetting it somewhat, Kid licked his lips as he smirked at Law. Law was crawling away from Eustass when Law was yanked to Eustass chest again and soon was being kissed aggressively by the hungry red head.

“As if you don’t always talk dirty” Law said breathing heavily after Kid pulled out. Eustass now got up and put Law’s jeans away. Went to a drawer where he knew he would find the things he wanted.

“Then Dirty talk it is! No toys today? You want it between sheets or somewhere more happening, floor, Kitchen counter, bar table, couch in the living room, bathroom?”

“Are you playing a prostitute now?” Law asked in icy tone.

“Tsk! I am being generous here. This attitude of yours is just not going to work so I think I would have to teach you some lessons today!” Eustass said as he glanced back at Law and gave a smug smile. Law felt a shiver run down his naked spine.

Eustass made his way to Law with a rope in his hand. Law saw it and narrowed his eyes on Kid’s hands, Eustass came closer and kissed Law again, he ripped off Law’s boxer as well, Law hissed while in kiss when he felt the sudden cold on his throbbing warm cock. While in kiss law felt a rope slip around his wrist, Kiss was broken and Law’s left hand got tied up to the head board,

“Now, my slutty little pet you will get damned good lesson. If you address me anything other than master you would be punished.” Eustass said in husky voice and nibbled on Law’s right ear, Law shuddered uncontrollably as he thought of what was to come. His right hand also got tied up almost instantly.

“I have tied your hands because I don’t you touching yourself” Eustass said as he took off his jacket.

“What the hell you think you are doing Eustass-ya! Get it over with already!” Law spat as he was trying get his hands off the rope. Eustass gave him a glare as he took off all his clothes and his thick half hard member sprang out as he took off his boxer, his cloths lie in a crumpled heap on the ground, Eustass smirked when he found Law’s eyes on his member and the blush on his face.

“like what you see! Want it inside ya? You want my cock fuck your slutty mouth, doncha bitch!” Eustass exclaimed as he fisted Laws hair and brought his face closer to his cock and shoved his cock into Law’s mouth. Law hungrily took it all inside and started sucking off. Eustass growled as he liked being sucked off, he liked Law’s lips around it. But he noticed that Law was enjoying it way too much. Eustass was pulling back and Law tried to keep it in mouth but could not move much as ropes hold his hands in place.

“You know how fucking beautiful that mouth is and I am going to eat you till nothing is left?” Eustass said as he captured Law’s lips in bruising kiss, Law’s lips actually had drawn out blood this time, Law hissed when Eustass left his lips,

“Oh, don’t look like that! What I told you girly! You will call me master or you will pay!” Eustass said as he came closer gripped Law’s thighs roughly as he got on the bed. Eustass spread law’s legs and moved forward but did not touch him when he finally placed his hands on both sides of Law’s torso. Law tried to scoot back but he felt intense gaze of Eustass on him and he stopped moving at all.

Kid lowered himself and slid his tongue on bare chest of his lean lover beneath him, his nipples got hard begging them to be touched by that warm and wet tongue, Eustass' tongue slid closer to one of the nipples but circled around it, never touching it. Law knew he was teasing; he bit his lip and closed his eyes trying to keep himself from moving so as to rub himself against the wet tongue of red head. Eustass repeated the teasing movements at the second nipple but Law could not help but move to get Eustass to touch his nipple earning Law a dirty smirk from Eustass and Eustass immediately pulled back.

“Impatient slutty body of yours is going to get punished my sweet pet?”

Law’s eye went wide as Eustass lift one of his thighs up and he felt teeth clamping down hard on his inner thigh earning a pained cry up from the doctor’s throat. A tear escaped Law’s eye as Eustass pulled out making a bad bruise on the tender skin of inner thigh. Eustass' lips closed on the wound and sucked on it a little and then followed the hot strokes. Law could only fight back a whimper as he felt the wave of pain and pleasure surging through him. Eustass was touching him but not where he wanted.

“Now my little slave, behave yourself or ya won’t be able to release for whole night! You get what I am saying.” Eustass said in husky voice sliding his tongue on Law’s inner thigh and caressing the thigh other with his hand, Law was feeling heat inside him rising, boiling even at the site of the wild creature before him, hungrily devouring his body, Law’s cock was already hard and pre-cum was making his stomach wet.

“Hai, Master!” Law said in low and weak voice as Eustass pulled out from his thighs and looked at Law with those dark brown lusty eyes, Eustass was a predator regarding his pray, to ravish and consume the beauty of the lean quivering body that lay beneath his own.

“That’s better!” Eustass said almost growling as he leaned forward and captured Law’s bruised lips, swollen from the rough treatment. Eustass' hands slid all over Law’s body barely touching him, leaving the hot trail of his nail scrapping his needy body just barely, he teased Law’s shivering body with slight touches and small pinches. Finally he took his hot and erect nipples in both of his hands and rubbed them earning a long moan from Law in the kiss, he then pinched the nipples forcefully as Law arched his back to rub against Eustass' hands to get more friction, Kid pulled out from the heated kiss,

“You are so fucking beautiful like this, begging for every little touch like a slutty bitch” Kid said his hands moved Law’s legs apart to the point that it hurt. Law could do nothing but lay there naked helplessly with red head between his legs, he was caressing his inner thighs and smirking at his shivering form. He slid his hand closer to Law’s hard and leaking member but he simply left touches on skin near the area and run his hands through Law’s pubes, neglecting the begging member while he lift the other un-bruised thigh up and bit it down but not too hard this time, Law was moaning, he so much wanted to grip the Redhead in his hands and make Eustass suck his cock right now, but he only could whimper and moan in the want, Law was trying to get rope off his wrist unknowingly too hard as Eustass gave him the sinful pleasure,

“If ya want me touch ya, you hafta beg for it my slave. Now convince me that ya want it!” Eustass said as he sucked on Law’s inner thigh gripped tight in his hand and other hand was on Law’s belly.

“Yes Master, please………aargh!………please touch me” Law said panting and trying to contain his whimper as Eustass’ teeth sunk in his hot flesh of inner thigh.

“Not that convincing wanton, are ya?” Eustass said as he dropped Law’s thigh on the bed and he tuned Law only much that the roped allowed, careful not to cause much bruising on his wrist. Law’s buttocks were now exposed to Eustass as Eustass squeezed Law’s tight butt with his warm calloused hands making Law arch his back in pleasure but that did not last long as Eustass started spanking him harshly, sounds of spanks were mixed with whimpers and moans,

"Oh! God! Eustassya!!!! Please...." Moaned Law,

"I did not hear you yet!"

“Master, please touch me, I want you, please …..aargh.....please” Eustass did not stop, soon Law’s tight ass was red from the beating he was receiving, after numerous merciless spanks, Eustass finally asked

“Please what?” Eustass asked as Law tried to move away from that spanking hand,

“Please master fuck me, take me, I want your cock inside me!” yelled Law above the sound of spanks that made Eustass stop as he gave a grunt and he started caressing the red mass.

“Hmm! Ya want that so much don’t ya? Ya want my cock to fuck that slutty pussy of yours don’t ya?” Eustass said as he took out lube bottle from somewhere Law did not see,

“Yes Master, fuck me” came law’s almost crying voice.

“Fucking correct! You are going to take my cock like the little bitch that you are!” yelled Eustass as he caressed Law’s red butt,

Law was still laid turned on his side and his ass was sore from merciless beating, his eye colluded with lust and pain, his cock was throbbing, begging for release, his lips swollen from aggressive kisses, his stomach and waist getting wet from pre cum. Law suddenly was turned to lie on his back, his face was red and eyes were half lidded, his legs were pushed apart again,

Eustass put his hands under Law’s thighs and tipped his hips, he then moved his legs so that Law’s leg rest on red head’s shoulders, Eustass nipped and loved Law’s abused ass, started lick him as if to undone all the beating Law received from him, Law was moaning but took sharp breath as he felt the larger man’s tongue teasing his hole.

“Don’t!” cried Law, Eustass liked that reaction, he would always love how his proud and icy lover would writhe under his hands,

“Are ya trying to defy your master?” Eustass asked in scolding voice, he knew how smart and smug Law could be, Law thought it was unsanitary, but he could have kept that doctor’s stuff to himself while fucking, he settled for serious tongue fucking to make Law mad beyond limits and without warning this time too he stabbed his tongue inside Law’s clenching entrance as Law’s moans rose to cries and his shivers turned into long and loud ripples of motions.

After few minutes of the tongue assault Law felt his aching entranced filled with three large oil slicked fingers. The wave of pain and pleasure ran through his body as he shivered and tried to move away from the fingers mercilessly taking him, breaking opening his ass suddenly without warning,

“Arrrgh! Master!” Law cried and moaned.

“I am giving ya permission to moan my name and I like when my woman scream my name in pleasure, ya got that!” kid said as he pinched Law’s nipple,

“Yes master!” Law almost cried aloud as those fingers fucked him till one of them hit his prostate make him see stars,

“Mas….Master! Please…….please touch me now! Please now…….I need to… ” Law pleaded for release as he could no longer keep it inside,

Eustass pulled the fingers out and started covering his own dick with oil, he bent down to capture Law’s lips in gentle kiss this time, as he took hand off his erect member, he finally opened the ties to make Law’s hands were free.

Law cupped Eustass' face in his hands and kissed him back passionately, Eustass aligned his cock with Law’s entrance and slid inside Law’s wanting body as Law gave a moan of pleasure inside Kid’s mouth as kiss continued. Law felt burn and pleasure at the same time, Eustass did not give him time to adjust and start moving.

“Eustass-ya!” screamed Law as pounded Law, more with each time he slid inside him, till the prostate was hit mercilessly again and again, 

“Yes babe, scream my name!” Said Eustass against Law’s lips as he increased speed, Eustass gripped Law’s weeping member in his large hands and began stoking for much needed release, Law gave a shivery breath out as his aching dick finally was paid attention to.

“Arrrgh! Fuck me! Harder! Eustass-ya” yelled Law as he fisted red hair in his hands and Eustass smirked at his lover, layer of sweat that covered Law’s temple was  wiped away by Eustass's hand only to create more as their activities progressed. Not much stroking needed for Law to release his white all over the larger hand with loud cry of Eustass' name. Eustass increased the speed further, slammed harder inside Law's wet slippery side for yet many more strokes before Law’s inside cramped around his cock and Kid released his seed inside Law with animistic loud growl. Eustass panted for a minute before he pulled out form law and released his grip on him.

After catching his breath Kid slumped on Law’s lithe form and relaxed on him.

“Hey Law, you okay babe?” Kid asked softly.

“Yes…. .[panting] ……….that ….was incredible!” Law said with a sly smile playing on his lips.

“Don’t avoid me Trafalgar!” Eustass whispered as he moved a little so as to get off his lover’s small body and took law in his arms and put his head on his sweaty back. After some more silent minutes Law spoke up.

“We will talk about that later Eustass-ya, can you get me cleaned up?”

“Yeah! Gimmi a minute love”

\--------

Eustass cleaned Law’s body with the help of towel he found in Law’s closet, put their clothes on the table and got into bed with Law. They did not talk much after that but Law was checking his emails on his tab when Eustass last saw him before he fell asleep, Eustass had fallen asleep on Law’s back as he cuddled him from back, Law was wide awake even after that intense love making and was still up for two more hours before he slept that night.


	6. Luffy........?

**_About a month later…. In Mihawk’s office,_ **

Jane was standing near the glass wall of the beautiful office, staring somewhere out of the building, long way into the city somewhere. She was disturbed at the very idea of the holiday she was forced to take. Shanks was seated on the couch signing some of the paperwork and Mihawk was standing, leaning back on to his table with a coffee mug in hand and two coffee mugs were there on the small coffee table in front of couch Shanks was sitting at. Only sound in office was the shuffling of papers Shanks was working with and occasional beeps on the monitor.

“Jane, your coffee is getting cold, come here!” Shanks said without glancing up from the papers in his hands.

“Why are you getting so worked up over a simple thing?” Mihawk said after taking seep of his coffee.

“Brother, you can’t do that to me! Please just give this stupid holiday to any unit or send whole of my team, I don’t mind, just leave me out of it!” Jane said in low and tired voice, still staring in somewhere in the air out of the glass wall, trying to find peace in the view of the busy city outside the Mihawk tower.

“No! You are packing your stuff and leaving this city for two weeks and that is it!” Mihawk said on scolding voice.

“You two trying to get rid of me?” Jane asked to mock them,

“As if!” Mihawk grunted.

“Jane! You and your team have earned it. Except for the first year since you joined up with us you have it every year, so it is almost a tradition now! Just take a break honey; you have been working a lot lately.” Shanks said getting up, putting papers down on the table. He took both the cups in his hands and made his way to where Jane was standing with her back facing to both the men. He put his hand around her and offered her coffee before removing his hand again. She took the cup form his hand, sighed and turned to look at him. By the time she turned back, Mihawk had come and put his free arm around Shank’s waist just to chide her as she threw that taunt to him earlier. She looked at them standing like a perfect couple and gave Shanks a smirk.

“You know, two look so cute together. But I really don’t need to see more of this, I mean I already had enough that day when I woke up with you two cuddled up in bed” She said as she looked away flustered,

“You should have known better! You slept in wrong bedroom!” Mihawk said in sharp voice.

“Hey, I was chocolate overdosed that day! You could have at least woke me up and told me to leave!” She said in irritated voice as she thought about that morning she had woken up clung on Shanks’ back and Mihawk had his arms around Shanks’ waist to hold Shanks closer to himself, he had in fact held both of them close in the process and Shanks was awkwardly bent so as to be in Mihawk’s arms still keep Jane comfy on his back. That whole thing had tuned out to be a disaster, all three of them woke up with sour necks and Shanks had got back pain whole day. ‘Poor Shanks!!’ she thought as she narrowed her eyes on Mihawk’s smirking face, giving him an angry look.

“Hey, stop it you two. Jane look, the way you are now, it is no normal behavior honey. We called you here to convince you to go and have some fun with your friends or…. You are……..you are grounded for whole year. Just get a life, find somebody. Don’t be alone Jane.” Shanks said in soft voice.

She gave a sigh as she closed her eyes, she had told him countless times that she is not interested in finding some person just to take her mind off Lucci or just to date somebody so as to pass the time. She was doing absolutely fine devoting herself to work and she just needed to keep herself busy, but Shanks would not listen. Law and Shanks have been trying to set her up with guys whom they thought were hot and good for her, they were trying to get her to do all kinds of weird stuff like online dating and all. She even had changed her look and dressing style a month back so that most of boys won’t notice her that much.

“But Shanks, I really have very good case to work on right now and I also have very promising info telling that our missing eyewitness is in this very city! You know I have been working hard for smoking this rat out once and for all. This is very crucial time, don’t take this away from me” She said in pleading voice, opening her eyes and making a best puppy face. Shanks could never say no to her puppy face, he changed his expressions to apologetic before he thought something and spoke,

“I know but it is really getting monotonous Honey!  You take a good break and come back. You start fresh. That will help.” Shanks said softly as he ruffled her messy short blond hair and smiled at her. She dropped her shoulders and closed her eyes again before giving a sigh in defeat.

“Yes, Law has already taken a liberty to purchase a beach house at Cleevr Island. You would have lot of free time, Jane you may also contact Mr. Peterson and check up on the Rosolt island political conditions, they are getting volatile. How many days I have to look into all the matters myself, learn some politics too, you have to handle the World government affairs in future, I suggest you better be prepared.” Mihawk said in scolding voice, sounding like a father scolding his daughter,

“Brother, I ain’t doing no world government business, they are so sick, I hate them!” Jane said as she scrunched her nose. Mihawk narrowed his eyes on her before continuing,

“Anyways I already have checked the political conditions in Cleevr island where Law bought a beach house, crime rate is less there than we have here in the Grand line, people do seem good and joyous, city is having good food and culture, you would even enjoy outside the premises of the property he had purchased, this is going to be good vacation for you. I know you guys would enjoy! I wish I could come with you!” Mihawk said the last sentence in very low voice, barely above whisper as of he said it more to himself. Jane cracked open her eyes and found her brother gawking at Shanks who was calmly seeping his coffee, Mihawk appeared to be thinking, Shanks noticed sudden silence and  gave him a jab with his elbow as he also noticed Mihawk staring at his face in front of Jane.

“You do brother? That is very rare coming from you! Don’t gross me out by behaving like that…..I mean ….uncharacteristically……..Geez!” Jane said in disbelief as she raised her eyebrows and widen her eyes as again Mihawk stole wary glance at his lover before looking at his sister again. Jane shook her head and made a childish angry face looking away from them, Shanks made Mihawk look away from both of them using his free hand and pushing his palm against Mihawk’s cheek,

“You owe him that much, that boy had always been by your side! Come on, don’t go on upsetting him now!” Shanks said backing up Law’s plans. Jane relaxed her face as she looked at Shanks smiling at her,

Jane gave another sigh, but it was in the frustration this time; she knew that Law is really looking forward for this vacation. ‘He really is excited about all this’ she thought. This year, he wanted Jane to join his group of friends and meet them, he been asking her to hang out with his friends for quite a while now, she is just been avoiding going with him for a while now, every time giving him stupid reasons as excuses.

Jane put the empty cup on chair and took two steps so as to go over her brother, she pushed Mihawk away from Shanks, he grunted and removed his hand from Shanks' waist and made is way to his own table, she gave Mihawk angry face when he snorted as she hugged Shanks,

“Hey! Cut it out, don’t be angry at brother now! And you are coming over for dinner okay! we can have nice dinner at my place!” Shanks said as he held his daughter firmly and combed her hair with his fingers, she leaned in the touch,

“I am not sure, I think I am gonna need some fresh air. Just replace the creepy cook with some decent chef, then I can I have my meal like every other hawkeye agent and you don't have to keep cooking for me. Just get a good chef then we can talk!"

"I like cooking for you! Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"I know but you get tired too!"

"I am okay Baby!"

"Cheesy are we?" taunted Mihawk snickering,

"Shut up!!" yelled Jane and Shanks in unison,

"Anyway, I will call you when I will get hungry! Plus when I am there at your place, you and Law try to keep setting me up with guys I don’t even know, I am so fed up of that, can you give me a break for a day at least? I mean I understand you are just getting impatient and bossy but Law? He is my best friend!” complained Jane in muffled but irritated voice as she had stuffed her face in his white shirt as usual.

“I am even ready to set you up with law himself, if it makes you behave like a human!” Shanks said ruffling her hair,

“Yuk! And where the hell did he come from? Don’t give me ridicules things to imagine, you pervert old man! And Law is into Eustass, I mean he is at least for now” she said snorting as she smacked him on chest with her fist playfully. Mihawk also had chuckled at his statement.

She left after five minutes her ‘Shanks time’, left the lovebirds alone.

\------------------------------

It was already very late in the evening, she was working on a case where a person who had broken into Doctor Vegapunk’s Lab mysteriously, the lab which had an excellent security system as the one in Mihawk tower which was provided by the Galley la company itself, and the person who did it had been reported dead in plane crash several years ago, that was quite a difficult case, the man was nowhere to be found and nothing had been reported stolen from the lab. Apparently the case was a mystery and so was the person who did it.

She was going through all the clues once again while walking back to her office; she took her diary out of her brown leather Jacket and was looking at it holding it in her right hand, while scratching the back of her head with the other. She was so engrossed in it, she did not notice Law coming in her direction. She opened her office door taking a keycard out from pocket of her blue jeans and went inside; she took of the jacket by holding the small diary with her lips, threw Jacket on the sofa and rolled her white shirt’s sleeves up to the elbow as she thought over the whole case again from the start. She went and stood exactly in the middle of the room, her white board in the office wall was covered with all the clues and photos of the evidences they had found, she looked at them and started plotting the pieces together, she put diary back inside her jeans’ pocket and hold her head in hands, closed her eyes so as to think.

“What the hell am I missing? Where the hell are you the missing dot!” She said in low voice barely above whisper and gritted her teeth as she pulled on her hair.

Her mobile phone made a short beeping sound; she had received a text message, that sound then repeated twice,

“Shut up!” she yelled at her phone with eyes still shut close and she was trying to think so as to figure out what exactly she missed while gathering info and connecting the dots, but her phone beeped again,

She finally took her phone out and swiped her thumb over screen. That was Zoro’s number four times. She opened the texts.

_“False alarm :P”_

_“A mole, inside his office! :(_ _”_

_“No! D dead was not dead! :P ”_

_“Last n final! we always want to it to b so damn intelligent. K, the mystery man, He s a Mayfly! :P_ _”_

She thought for a second and then it hit her, the guy who had broken into Lab may have stolen some dead guy’s identity to mislead them. She really got happy that Zoro gave an important clue while she just had told him the whole incident of Vegapunk’s case with fake names and lab as an funny old man’s treasure chest with mysterious gold and maps in a made up story the day they met at the Brooks club just a day before, she just told him story as a fun and asked how the guys did it if he was dead.

She texted him back, saying _“Bingo!:P_ _”_

She ran to the laptop did some typing and them smiled at her screen and stood up looking up from Laptop screen when she found Law standing in the doorway, he was smiling and was leaning on the door frame,

“Hey! How long you have been here?” Jane said in surprised voice.

“Quite a while, Capt’n! Since you came down here with your head in that awful diary!” Law said shrugging his shoulders.

“Great ! You hate my diary now!” She said furrowing her brows and making ‘what’s with you?’ face.

“Seems like you finally got something on the vegapunk’s case!” Law said raising his dark eyebrow.

“Yup, I have a lead and am going there right now!” She said turning her laptop as that screen would face Law, it would be possible for him to see what she had found out. But the sly smile on his face was gone and he was walking in while he spoke,

“No captain, you are not! We are done for the day! You promised me that you are going to buy me a drink, we are going downtown and we are going to meet some people!” Law made his way to her and put the screen of her laptop down. He slipped his hand inside the pockets of his pants and took out keys for a bike and tossed in air for her to catch.

“There you go! Your Agusta with all new paint job and accessories! It’s your turn to keep your promise!”

“But Law!” Jane tried to protest.

“No buts! Get your stubborn butt out of this office right now! Get dressed and meet me down in the parking in half hour!” He said turning on his heels and making his was out of the office while glancing over his shoulders and smiling again.

Jane shook her head and started shutting everything down. While she was collecting her things and putting neatly on the desk she got another text as the mobile phone beeped once more. She took her phone out to check, it was Zoro again.

 _“Cop salary sucks! Could u buy me a drink robocop? :P ”_ She smiled at the text. She had fallen into a habit of texting him a lot lately and in truth it was helping her mood a bit too.

 _“Sure! U gv a rght answr aftrall. M goin dwntwn. buzz u whn I ll rch thr!”_ She texted back with smile on her face.

 _“Cool. Cnt wait_  :P _”_ Zoro replied her within seconds.

She smiled at phone and put it back into the pocket, put all scattered things in their proper place in her office, papers in neat pile and left the office as she went to her apartment up in the Mihawk tower.

She took a quick shower and decided to put on her regular casual wear. She put on a comfortable green colored tank top above the straps she always wore to hide her modest boobs so that she could look like a guy, a big military styled parka. She opted for light blue skinnies and cool Jordans. She looked in the mirror to style her short blond hair but decided to put a black and green woolen peak beanie, sprayed some perfume and quickly exited her apartment for the parking.

When she was in the elevator going down the building for parking, it stopped and Law entered the elevator he saw Jane when texting somebody with corners of her lips twitched up and her eyes were in shadow created by the beanie bill and some of her face was concealed with the short blond strands coming out of the hat, she looked cool but nothing like attractive curvy girl that she used to look before, when she had a long blond hair and proper fit clothes instead of baggy and funky clothes,

“Well, look at you! Can’t you dress like a girl for once! God! What is wrong with you?” Law said in irritated voice. She looked up from the screen of her phone and met his troubled gaze. He was wearing blue skinny jeans with some pattern of black dots or spots on it and a yellow T shirt with a black hoodie with similar printed pattern of yellow dots on it, he also had a white fur hat on. 

“Why Doctor? You are gonna try to set me up with somebody again?” She asked smirking.

“I challenge you to find a guy hotter than me as your boyfriend” He replied in smoky voice as he came closer to her.

“Yuk! What the hell you guys have been thinking! Shanks even mentioned that old fart Smoker and then actually said that he is ready to set me up with you. And now you ….what is wrong with you? You are what….what....., flirting at me now? Do I look desperate? Hun! And have you ever flirted with a girl before? I mean I know you never needed to, you are the coolest Casanova I know, you are damn handsome, I will give you that, I know girls just wanted to get in bed with you and blah blah…… but seriously, can you think about me like that?" Jane said pissed off at his behaviour all of a sudden but kept typing in her cell phone,

“Truth is I can’t, maybe I won’t and that is the whole problem, if I ever had given it a thought when we were together since before the high school, this all wouldn't have happened at all, neither with you nor with me!” Law said seriously, gawking at her face, Jane was not looking back at him, she had her eyes on her cellphone screen, Jane just could not believe Law was in fact talking like that with her, she did not know what has gotten into her best friend all of a sudden.

“What happened with you now? You have hell lot of options, boys, girls! You are a bi, plus you have had many lovers, I bet many of them wanna come back in your life, you just have to call them! I am not like that!” she said smirking, eyes still on cellphone,

“Che! I don’t have options Jane. I like someone for real this time, but that person does not feel the same way about me! If only, I had thought about confessing sooner!! You know Jane-ya, we would have made a really fantastic couple!” Law said scooting really closer to her as he leaned against the steel railing and touched their sides completely,

“Law!” Jane yelled at him as she took a step away, tilted her head to look up so as to look at his face and she bored her blue eyes into his dark brown, he pulled her close by gripping her wrist then slipping his arm around her waist, wave of anger washed over her, she gritted her teeth but he hissed as she had involuntarily gripped his throat with her hand, his hiss made her look at his face, his eyes were intense and he was dead serious, Jane was confused and angry but calmed down releasing her grip and stopped to listen to what he has to say as she tried to remove his hand from her waist but he made her look at him by cupping her chin,

“Jane-ya, at that time, you were like this boldest and coolest tomboy of the school, pulling pranks on everybody, making guys blush and shy away, beating guys to the pulp if they stood in your way, scaring devil out of those who tried to come close to you, I haven’t seen a girl like you in my whole life, you never spared any boy a second glance. I thought you were either not interested in guys or you were just asexual and I dropped the whole idea. But when I came back, Lucci-ya had a special place in your life that I once desired, I was speechless, he had literally tamed the dragoness. I felt bad about not having spoken of my heart to you and what I felt for you but I could not do anything when I saw you guys gotten together, I deci..” Law was interrupted rather rudely,

“STOP right there! If Shanks have put you up to this, I won’t forgive him and I won’t talk to you for the rest of my life Law! Don’t play this game; I am not in the mood handle more of the drama. I told him and I told you too, like a hundreds of times, don’t try to set me up with anybody just to take my mind of Lucci! That is not gonna work, that is not how I am! Why can’t you see that? Now, if you still wanna be my friend, leave the thing right here and let’s get back being friends and we are good. But if you wanna continue talking further on this topic, I don’t guarantee the safety of our relation any more.” Jane asked narrowing her eyes on him, he took his hand back and released his grip on her smaller form,

“I am sorry Jane-ya! Friends!” Law said in sincere voice, turned and gripped the circular steel rod running through half way as to create the feel of a railing and made his back face the door but Jane settle on it so that back leaning against the glass wall but was facing the door so they stood near each other without any distance between them but looking in opposite directions, Jane felt bad as she had spoken with Law too rudely, he tucked her arm in his as he looked out of the glass elevator and gave a sigh.

“Hey? Do I look really bad like this Law?” She asked raising an eyebrow, smirking, being herself. He looked at her face, quite up close, she was shorter than him, he smiled sadly at her smirking face as he shook his head,

“No, you look ………..boyish! And I know that is what you want! You want people ignore you as a girl!” Law said closing his eyes. They were talking as if nothing happened,

“Oh! Do I now?” she said just to say something and started typing in the mobile phone again. She again received some text. This has been happening a lot lately and Law had noticed it long back.

“So you texting some guy? You have been texting a lot lately!” asked Law in his deep voice.

“Yup! I am texting a guy alright! But don’t get any ideas. He is just a friend!” She said as the matter of fact.

“I am not getting any ideas. So a texting-friend hun?” Law raised a voice as he thought of how much Jane hated texting.

“Yup! Friend!” she said.

“Good! At least you have been talking somebody other than us and something other than this police business and murders!” Law said in deep voice.

“Not actually! He is a GLPD SWAT!” she said in voice as if she was smiling, Law cracked opened his eyes as he was already disturbed by the fact that Jane was texting and now he was astonished that this guy was a cop. The elevator stopped and doors opened.

“What? You have been texting a cop?” She ran outside dragging Law backwards.

“Yup! He does not meddle in our things though. I met him few weeks back, he is good. But I still keep my distance! People can stab your back anytime anywhere you know!” She said looking at him with a sad smile. Law’s face changed as he got worried, Jane did not often sound sentimental like that, he came closer to Jane contemplating what to say to make Jane feel better,

“Jane, now you are being so mor …” he could not complete,

“Not a word Law! Let’s go! Now where is my baby! Where is she? Oh! I missed ya so much my tigress” She asked excited raising her hands in air. Law shook his head and smiled while pointing his thumb backwards from where he stood to the parked bike. She ran past him saying ‘yay!’.

\------------

Jane was driving and Law was in the back seat. Law was giving her directions; they were near the Brook’s bar,

“Hey Law! By any chance, are we going at some Brook’s place to hang out with your friends?” She yelled above the sound of the wind and bike engine.

“Ummn….Yeah! How in the world you know that?” Law asked raising his eyebrow which Jane could not see of course.

“Well, Lucky me! I can text my friend! Apparently he lives nearby!” She yelled.

“So, you have been there before?” Law asked with disbelief.

“Yup! Many times! With the same SWAT guy!” She said decreasing the speed and as they were entering the premises of the very place they were going at.

“Great! let me see who got you to text him!!” said Law as she parked the bike and both went inside the bar.

\---------

They were going inside and she was taking her mobile phone out to text Zoro that she is at Brook’s. Law was looking for his friends and scanning area for familiar faces.

Suddenly a raven haired boy with red t-shirt and blue jeans came running towards them while Law had his back at the running boy and Jane was looking in her mobile phone so as to type the text to Zoro, both unaware what was to come,

“Oi Sana! Sana! It’s you!” Came a very enthusiastic and loud voice from a boy who suddenly had Jane in a bear hug. She was surprised simply with the brute force the guy used mere to jump on her and her eyes went wide, she clutched her mobile phone tighter while she looked at the shorter teen, words sank in a little late in Jane’s brain as she was too much occupied by the sudden attack of lovely hug, somebody just had called her by her old name that nobody here knew about. Jane was further stupefied at the thought and did not speak anything for a minute as she stared at the raven haired ball of energy smiling brightly at her, Law looked at his friend and the raven haired boy in confusion,

‘That face, so energetic, that unmistakable scar under left eye, messy black hair, that carefree voice and toothy grin, happiness in air around him, innocent shiny black eyes,……Lu….holy shit, it is him!’ Thought Jane,

“Lu..Luffy?” Jane said in weak shaky voice. Law was also very surprised the way Luffy had referred Jane, his school friend by name Sana. ‘What she knows Luffy-ya? Why he addressed her as Sana?’ Law thought.

“Luffy ya, you two know each other?” Law asked with disbelief looking back and forth between Jane and Luffy. Jane was hugging back Luffy now and she had glassy eyes and a sad smile. That was rare site, Law was totally confused now.

“Sana! I thought you were dead! Where were you? We looked everywhere for you! _Yogatta_ _na_ Sana!” Luffy said as he looked up so as to face her, smiling and crying at the same time.

“Damn! Luffy? How come you are here in the Grand line?” Jane said as Luffy left his death grip on her and stood in front her giving her a toothy grin.

“He! He! We came here in Grand line just few months back! You know I have whole bunch of awesome friends here too! We also met a big whale on the way, his name is Laboon, he is my friend too and he is as big as a mountain” Luffy said smiling as he wiped his tears of happiness and adjusted his straw hat above his head. Law was speechless, he had taken risks, gave bribes and what not to convince Jane for to go with him to meet up with Luffy and others and she somehow already knew him. He did not know what to do other than listening them speak.

“Great! Just Great!” Law said with wide eyes,

“Wait! Does that mean Ace is here too? I will be damned!” She asked Luffy all excited, he nodded and smiled to his heart content.

“What? So you know him too?” Law asked Jane who was just staring at Luffy with glassy and soft eyes and ruffling his head like he was her long lost son. Luffy changed his expression for a moment and took some air in with mouth, closed his eyes and shouted Ace’s name with all his might.

“Aaaaaaceeeeee!” his voice was heard everywhere in the place, above all the music they were playing, Jane and Law had their hands on their ears and somewhere from the dance floor Ace came running towards Luffy and so did everybody else of the group from their various locations in the place after listening Luffy’s voice. For a minute every man and women in the bar were having eyes on Luffy and the pair standing in front of him.

Ace, Sanji, Brook, Nami, Vivi, Usopp, Kaya, Zoro, Chopper, Cohza, some girl in blond hair, everybody now surrounded the odd trio of bewildered Law, extremely happy Luffy and excited Jane. Ace had run check on Luffy but stood frozen on the spot when he saw whom Luffy was looking at, he stood behind Luffy, staring at Jane and his Jaw dropped after few seconds of observation; Vivi, Usopp, Kaya knew that Law was going to take their team captain to meet everybody from the group but they were confused why Luffy was acting like that to her. Brook and Sanji took a little time to figure out that Jane was actually a girl, Brook moved his hand on his mouth as he remembered her being there in the bar many times over with Zoro and Sanji pulled Luffy off her and started chocking Lyffy with his hands around Luffy’s throat as he gritted his teeth as he yelled ‘what you think you are doing, you lousy bastard!’. Zoro had no words but he did not react, neither to his idiot best friend Luffy nor to his new friend Jane. He was simply stunned.

“Sana! Is that really you?” Ace had finally found his voice now.

“Yup, it’s me alright! But call me Jane. You two look well!” She said in a hoarse voice as if it was difficult to speak.

He did exactly the same way Luffy had reacted when he saw Jane. He jumped forward and took Jane in bear hug.

“Wow Ace! That was fast! I didn’t know that she was this irresistible for you!” said Law in irritated voice as he raised his eyebrow suspiciously when he saw Jane getting comfy in his hug.

“It’s not like that Law! I should be thanking you to bring her here!” said Ace all too happily.

They were literally inseparable for few minutes. Sanji was utilizing all of his strength to separate the girl from these suddenly-acting-all-too-clingy sibling pair but Ace wouldn’t budge and Luffy had joined the hug too.

After some time they separated and gave a sigh of contentment and then broke out in laughter.

“Man! I really thought I was never going to see you again!” Ace said in worried voice.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t for the crazy strong guys who saved me, you really would not have!” Jane said shrugging and putting her hands in pockets of her Jeans.

“Okay Minna! This is Sana! My sister!” Luffy said wrapping hand around her shoulder and introducing her to everybody.

“Sister?” Everybody wonder aloud.

“Yup! Isn’t she cool?” Luffy said giving his innocent toothy smile to everybody.

“Yes, she is a rare beauty! Sana chan it is an honor to meet you! My name is Sanji, would you like to join me for a drink somewhere else!” Sanji said swooning before getting down on one knee and gracefully offering his hand to her.

“I guess not! But please it’s Jane, call me Jane!” She gave him uninterested look and shook her head saying ‘no’ and Nami just made him stand up pulling his ear with her hand, while he simply was drooling over all the women in his sight and Nami was yelling in his ear ‘what about Rosalie, she is waiting for you on the dance floor, you idiot!’. She turned to look at Jane as smiled very nicely as if she just did not yelled and showed her angry monster face to Sanji.

“Don’t worry about this idiot Jane, he is somewhat abnormal. I am Nami! Nice to meet you!” Jane nodded and smiled at her. Everybody said their names as they simply introduced themselves except for Zoro and Brook, last was Chopper,

“Hello, my name is Chopper!” A cute teenager with short brown hair and warm big brown eyes said excitedly. ‘How adorable!’ Jane thought and ruffled his hair while he did his happy-dance.

“Jane ya, you see, me, Usopp ya, miss Vivi and miss Kaya are already friends with these idiots.” Law said giving her a sly smile and then she noticed stunned Zoro standing near Law.

“Hey Zoro!” She said casually gesturing him ‘hi’ with her hand.

“Hi there! I din't know you were Law’s friend! You are just a mystery!” Zoro said as shooting his shoulders up and giving her a smirk. She quickly stuck out her tongue at him.

“Moss head! How do you know her?” Sanji yelled from his position near Nami which went ignored by everybody excluding Zoro who sent him a death glare while gritting his teeth and muttering ‘Stupid shit-cook.’ Jane gave a hearty laughter at their antics before she saw a tall, very skinny and matured looking middle aged man with afro which she knew by the name Brook came stepping forward in her direction from where he stood next to Zoro, Jane turned a little to face him,

“Miss Jane! I think we have met before. You come here with Zoro san, don't you?” he said in gentlemanly way, as he adjusted his tie and he had a wooden walking stick in his right hand,

Meanwhile ………….“What?” exclaimed the whole group not believing she had been coming here frequently though nobody not even Luffy did find her out till today and more confused with the fact that she been friends with Zoro.

“I am owner of this place. It is nice to officially meet you!” Brook said while taking his hat off his head and bowing as the gentleman he was but that did not end well, as he continued,

“My name is Brook. May I see your panties?” asked the man and he earned a curse and a kick from Sanji which could not make him fall off his position, while something just flew off and hit his head due to courtesy of none other than pissed off Nami yelling ‘Am tired of you perverts!’

But Jane did not change her expressions a bit, she did not even blink or get angered, Zoro was looking keenly at her face. She simply took out her right hand from pocket of her jeans, looked hat her first finger as she curled up rest into fist and scratched her chick with the first finger that was not curled up while she spoke casually with blank face,

“Yeah! sure!” said Jane in her modulated voice,

Another exclamation of “Wahaaaaaat?” was there,

Jane simply shrugged a bit as she stuck the same first finger in her jeans at right side above her hips to pull the waistband of underwear above her jeans’ rim which was settled perfectly on lower of her waist, she pulled the garment just a little to show mere glimpse of the waistband of her green underwear. Even that made Brook and Sanji shout her name ‘Sana chan!!’ and nose bleed. Ace, Vivi, Kaya, Usopp and Nami burst out in laughter while Zoro face palmed and Chopper innocently closed his eyes, Luffy kept picking his nose staring somewhere above their heads.

“Really Jane-ya?” exclaimed Law in deep voice as he patted her head while she let go of the underwear and put both her hands in the pocket of her jeans and gave an interested look to Law as if what she did it was very normal thing to do,

\-----------------

Ace and Luffy kept Jane very busy catching up with her for a good while as they had lost her while they were kids, she was then found and saved by Shanks and Mihawk which she had to keep secret for now. She was simply enjoying their company, getting to know all the people in the group, she liked chopper more than anybody else. They were all seated on a large comfy booth and chatting each other. Luffy and Ace were seated on both sides of her while Zoro was right in front of her.

“So, Jane, you coming for the vacation planned at the Beach house right?” Asked Law in happy voice while seeping his gin and tonic, he sat beside Ace, Chopper was next to Law and near Zoro, Sanji was seated between Cohza and Zoro, Vivi was next to Cohza, Usopp and Kaya were next to Nami who seated between Kaya and Luffy.

“I don’t want to Law!” She said getting irritated by the question.

“We are all going together so, you are coming! That’s my decision!” Luffy said with voice full of determination as he kept stuffing his face with meat balls with both his hands.

“You still do that Luffy! Don’t take decisions for people you moron! I can’t come!” She yelled at Luffy stealing some of his meatballs from his hands and stuffing her own face. That earned amused and surprised glances from everybody except for Ace.

“Wow! Luffy just got his meat stolen and he is not making a ruckus! I mean who steals from Luffy the ultimate food thief!” Usopp said sweeping a flat hand over his head from front to back and everybody laughed.

“Oh! You don’t know Usopp, we used to have fight over every little piece of meat!” Jane said winking as she took Luffy under her arm, choke-holding him while taking his meat again and he was struggling to get away from the grip her arm had over his throat.

“Oh! C’mon! We have lot of catching up to do! You are coming with us, Luffy is right this time too! We will have fun like old times! We have not seen each other in years plus it’s your birthday on 4th, It’s perfect, we would party and dance! We are celeb….!” Ace said putting hand around her shoulder. She left Luffy suddenly and put three meatballs in Ace’s mouth and Luffy whined as he took much needed breath but started stuffing his face again, which earned him a smack from Nami.

“You were chocking just a second ago, stop eating till you catch your breath you idiot!” Nami yelled,

“I don’t celebrate birthdays Ace! Not anymore!” She said in scolding voice and her angry face inches from his wary face.

“Aww! Don’t be like that sweetheart! I will cook awesome meat for you and I will bake a beautiful cake!” Sanji said putting his face in his hand and staring at her like she was a piece of juicy fruit cake; he was almost drooling over table as if he was imagining her naked or something. She made a ‘what the hell’ face and looked at Zoro who was giving Sanji death glares.

“Stupid dart-brow!” Zoro said as his eye twitched at Blonde’s behavior.

“What is your problem _Marimo?_ ” Sanji spat changing his face from love struck puppy to fire breathing demon, gritting his teeth. Nami just stood up, bent forward making her boobs bounce up and down deliciously and hit both on their heads with her fists and shouted on top of her lungs,

“Hey! Don’t start you two!”

“Wow! I can’t imagine how in the hell this bunch of weirdos manage without you Nami!” praised Jane looking at her with wide innocent eyes. She gave Jane a sinister smile and sat back at her seat and rubbed her hands together,

“Well they don’t obviously! Guys, we have many celebrations in order. Luffy and Ace found their sister, Vivi and Cohza are getting married, Usopp and Kaya are getting engaged too, the prodigy….I mean Chopper has now become a doctor, Jane’s Birthday plus we have Christmas and new years’ eve too! So we have lot of fun to do while we would be enjoying our holidays” said Nami enthusiastically raising her hands and smiling mischievously.

“So, here is the deal, Law is going to make sure that we are going to enjoy this beach house of his, Sanji you are taking care of all the cooking, Brook and Zoro will get to choose all the booze we need, Me, Boa and her friends are going to manage the decorations and all the items we would need for the parties, Vivi’s father is going to give us a special deal of shopping packages as I helped him get a good business in the west, Vivi and Kaya would handle all the travel arrangements and Ace the music is on you. Franky is going to give us Ideas and equipment for games, Tashigi said that we can have theme based parties so she is working on that, Perona said she is going to give the money she won’t be helping us plan or anything, Bonny is ready to help if anybody needs any help.” Nami was actually out of control, she was very excited about the whole vacation deal, Jane spoke abruptly to stop her rambling,

“Wait! I will make the travel arrangements! Just pack your bags and tell me where and when we are supposed to leave, it’s on me, you guys handle the rest.” Said Jane as she took another meat ball from Luffy’s hand and Luffy growled at her, giving her angry bull face with already full mouth. She smirked devilishly as she chewed in the stolen meat ball. The whole crew was enjoying that scene when Nami gave a screech of happiness that made everybody twitch their eyebrows except for Luffy and Sanji, Nami was happy as Jane was paying for the travel arrangements,

“I am going to save money for shopping! You are the best sister!” Nami said as she was practically daydreaming about her shopping bags.

“Witch! My ears are going to bleed” said Zoro annoyed,

“Go and die Moss head, how dare to say that to my sweet Nami!” said Sanji as he grit his teeth. Nami was far too happy to notice the snide comments.

\---------------

Their chatting and goofing off went on for a while, they got to know Jane a little and she sort of started taking liking to all of them, after sometime of drinking and talking the group dispersed, most went to the dance floor, Nami with Luffy, Vivi with Cohza, Kaya with Usopp. Brook had leave so as to go and be owner of the place, Ace was dancing with some girl they did not know about and Sanji was dancing with his date of that day the group did not know about. Jane, Law, Chopper and Zoro were still seated at the booth watching them dancing. Seated with their back on the fluffy booth and legs relaxed, eyes on the dance floor, Chopper and Law were talking about their medical stuff and Zoro slid closer to Jane to sit right beside her.

“So, you are sister of my best friend! You are friends with Law. Usopp, Vivi, Kaya knew you well and Sarg. Smoker seems to know you well too and it still took me more than 3 months to find you!” Zoro said in amused voice and gulped his sake.

“World is strange place Zoro!” She said taking seep of her beer.  

“As strange as it gets, I also think that there is some connection between your Dad and Luffy.” Zoro was gawking at his sake bottle when Jane stole a glance of him.

“My dad? I don’t have a da…..Oh! You mean Shanks?” She guessed.

“Yeah! Shanks! There is some connection there. What you mean you don’t have a dad? You called him dad once that day we went to meet Mr. Kuzan.” Zoro said as if it had happened just a day before this one, as if the memory of that day was fresh in his mind, as fresh as today’s and that was very natural for him to remember. Jane was surprised that he remembered even that.

 “Zoro! Why you have to remember every little detail of every little encounter?” She asked moving her eyeballs to him while narrowing her eyes.

“Are you bothered by it? I merely observe. I don’t simply like things, I get obsessed with them, so I note details with ease!” Zoro said smirking and taking another large gulp of his sake.

“Oh! You observe? Okay! What else you observed Zoro?” Jane said relaxing in her seat a little more as she slumped on it, skidding downwards and her eye lids also came little down.

“I rather would not tell!” came Zoro’s deep baritone voice and he smirked again. She smiled at his statement, more to his voice, she like the sound of his voice, it was deep, musical, like perfectly tuned cello, it itched her insides, it was powerful.  He noticed Jane was relaxing her seat deliciously, he looked at her half lidded eyelids and skidded closer to her unknowingly, his side almost touching her shoulders and arms..

“We are detectives, cops or …….the police in a vague way. We have to observe Zoro but keeping a memory of such trivial matters? ….” Jane said in tired voice as she was looking at dance floor but Zoro interrupted her, Zoro was about to take seep from his bottle but stopped to talk,

“Nothing trivial Jane, when I heard his name I had to remember it . Do you doubt my intentions?” Zoro asked as his hand stopped in mid-air as did the bottle in his hand and took it down before turning a little to face her lithe form slumped over the seat.

“Ideally, I should not trust anybody. My profession does not allow it!” she said a little shrugging as she closed her eyes and hit his chest playfully with her fist so as to push him away a little.

They saw Eustass Kid coming to the booth from somewhere and he bent over and spoke something in Law’s ear, as if he had asked Law to go with him somewhere, Law nodded and stood up,  mouthed ‘bye’ to Jane and Zoro. They both nodded and Jane waved goodbye to her friend,

After sometime Chopper also excused himself as he had found a sweet girl to talk to, only Jane and Zoro were sitting at the booth now.

“Yeah, as you said that day, ‘it’s an occupational hazard’” Zoro said now completely turning so as to face her and threw his hand over the headrest right behind her slumped frame. He just had to bent a little forward and bring his other hand closer to Jane he would have had her right in his arms, he was very close to her now and he looked as if he did not know what he was doing,

Unaware or not bothered by the closeness, Jane was still moving her gaze on various dancing couples on the dance floor and had her body all slumped over the comfy seat as if she had no worries in the world, while she rocked her head gently on the beats of music,

“Wow! You remember that too! I can conclude that you like me Zoro!” She said smirking and glancing at him, and then she noticed how close he was near her as she suddenly became self-conscious and slight pink spread across her milky white cheeks. ‘Is that a blush? Man, she looks so damn tasty’ Zoro thought,

“Well as matter of fact I really do!” He said while he kept his half empty sake bottle on the table and kept his hand on the bottle and clutched it harder while he stared at her slightly flushed face. He knew of that hand left the bottle he would have taken her in hug, he was fighting back that urge constantly.

She turned her head so as not to think about her flushed face and make that blush disappear, she was simply looking at the dance floor and moving her shoulders and head slightly matching rhythm of music. After some time the music changed to slow and romantic type, people exclaimed ‘whooooo’ and changed their dancing style to match up with the slow music beats.

Jane changed the angle of her neck to look at Zoro and found him staring right at her face, she fixed her eyes on Zoro and pulled herself up with help of her hands, her head was now placed on his hand which he had thrown on her side of the chair, she either did not notice or gave no signs that she had noticed the warmth Zoro’s arm offered her neck from backside, Zoro had his side leaned against the back of his seat so as to face her completely, she pulled her legs to her chest while putting arm around them.

“But you said you don’t simply like them…..” She whispered in serious voice looking him dead in the eye as she rested her head on his arm.

“I get obsessed with them! Right! See! You remember too!” Zoro said in calm voice, her face was really close, he couldn't know if he could control himself from kissing her.

‘It’s taking all I have got to keep away from your lips Jane, I might just kiss you right now!’ Zoro said in his mind as he kept staring at her face, her pink plum lips wet with the beer, her pale cheek with slight pink tinge, her blue dilated pupils, her long pale neck, her blonde arched eyebrows….

'Why the hell I feel good when you are around? And I don't feel this is wrong when I should! Why is that? I have decided to be alone, to be strong! Why I feel that you are simply coming closer and closer and I cant do a shit to avoid myself getting attracted to you!' thought Jane,

Both went silent after that. Jane took her eyes off Zoro and looked at the dance floor; Zoro’s eyes lingered on her before he bent his head on his own shoulder while leaning on back of seat sideways still facing Jane. After few minutes of staring at Jane, he turned his head to look at Dance floor.

He spotted his long time crush, in fact his first and only crush, the famous blonde cook, Sanji was not just dancing but making out with some busty redhead date of his, it seemed that she was enjoying that too as she had him in tight embrace. Zoro closed his eyes and started thinking about the cook, he did not want to be with him right now, even if Sanji would have wanted, Zoro did not feel like being with Sanji at this very moment. Zoro still felt that pang of jealousy seeing Sanji with a girl but he was did not feel like to go and beat the hell out of him while he saw Sanji kissing the unknown girl in front of him. He opened his eyes again to stare at the cook eating some girl’s lips and sliding his hands up and down her curvy body, he looked at Sanji keenly, he was feeling nervous, he had been cussing Sanji all along for being flirt but Zoro thought 'I never made a move to make Sanji understand what I felt'. 

Now, was Zoro done being ignored?

‘Do I really want Sanji to get romantic with me like he is with all these girls? Do I really want him to swoon for me? Do I want him to be with me at all times? Or moreover, do I want to be around him all the time? What I am feeling for Jane right now, is it similar for what I felt for cook? No, no it is not the same, I ...I feel like I should have her with me for all life along! Really ...? now do I? Do I really wish to spend my entire life with cook, with whom I can't stand for two minutes for real, a guy who wishes to throw himself at feet of every girl in the world? Do I love Sanji or is that mere an attraction, a physical attraction? If I really did love Sanji why did I not try to make him notice me yet, or make him like me yet! Why was Zoro obsessed with Jane? Why am I trying to get her attention? Why am I trying to be near her? I feel like kissing her when I see her!! Am I going mad? I need to talk to Law again!’ Zoro sighed inaudibly at the thought.

Zoro looked at all other friends, Vivi had her head on Cohza’s chest while they danced on that slow music while Sanji had resorted to make out with his girl as he always does as if that was the last time he would get to kiss a girl, Kaya and Usopp were also in each other’s arms enjoying the romantic music, Luffy and Nami were nowhere to be found and Ace had his forehead rested on the forehead of his girl while he talked with her and he had her in a perfect hold, they still were moving their feet in rhythm of the music and they were actually a nice sight. Zoro stole a glance at the calm looking Jane and broke the awkward silence between them.

“I have bike. You up for a long drive?” He asked with uneasy voice, eye on her face now.

“I have a bike too. You up for a race?” turning her head to face Zoro completely she asked confidently meeting his gaze, smiling at him which made him relax his mind and he returned her smile.

“No, I would rather enjoy the pillion. I like to feel the air as you drive; in fact I wanna know how will it feel when you drive that Agusta at full speed, I know a place where you can speed all you want! What you say? You have the MV Agusat right?” He said while he raised an eyebrow and waited Jane to respond.

She nodded, quickly stood up as if a new energy had been surging through her and took out her keys. Jane grabbed Zoro by hand and ran towards the dance floor, Zoro was confused by did not protest, she just tapped on Ace’s shoulder. He looked back at them, she mouthed ‘I will be back’ to Ace and waved her hand, Ace nodded at Jane as she scooted away but Ace glanced back at Zoro with questioning gaze. Zoro knew it’s meaning but did not say anything to reply one way or the other.

Zoro simply looked away after waving his hand. He was following Jane to go outside the Bar, but before going out she stopped suddenly and tuned back and Zoro almost collided with her,

“Whoaa dude! Don’t stop abruptly!” Zoro said balancing himself so as not fall on Jane, he instinctively grabbed her shoulders so as not to fall on her but left them almost instantly.

“Yeah! Sorry about that but I think we should empty our bladders before we go out, I will be back in a sec.” she said and turned to head to the washroom. Zoro did the same.

\------------

Zoro went out in the parking looking for Jane, he heard the roar of engine and ran in the direction of sound, there was Jane on her MV Agusta F4, he saw her gawking at it as if the bike was the one and only thing she wanted in whole world. The purr of engine was maddening, Jane stopped the engine and looked around, she spotted Zoro rooted at the entrance of the bar and she motioned Zoro to hurry as he was just staring at her from where he stood.

He ran over to her and quickly got in the backseat,

“Hey! Zoro, we are cops and we had almost what like 8 beers and you also had sake? What if somebody caught us?” she asked turning her head to try to face him. He leaned forward and brought his face closer to hers and whispered.

“Well boss, don’t let anybody. Drive like a good guy till we are out of this city, you can get as bad ass as ya want in the Law-less-zone in Sabaody, let us hit the 43rd highway!” he had his hands on her shoulders as he spoke which was giving Jane tingles but she did not ask him to take them away.

‘Lucci would have cut his hands off of he would have seen this, but that was all act so he might not do that now, would he?’ Jane though then shook her head,

“Ok Zoro, Good idea. I also don’t have any helmets, you okay with that? What if I end up killing both of us” She asked as she put her fingers on the key so as to start the bike, but typed something in the TFT panel of her bike.

“You’hv got this Robocop! I trust ya!” Zoro said as he smirked.

“Okay Grand line, we off to play in traffic!” said Jane looking up in air and turned the key for the gas,

The bike purred to life again, hummed smoothly as they took off from the area. It spoke guttural yet thunderous retort, cracking at times and in sync with the heartbeat as if that bike had life.    

‘It’s like the bike is alive, it’s like Luffy speaks them of, she also feels them, she made me feel this bike too, it’s exactly like what I felt that day! I could not get this feel when I am on mine. It’s like I am in the air, like I am floating. When we would be in good speed, it would be like flying, this bike is something else or maybe it’s just Jane, anyways it’s the rider that matters not the roads, not the bike!’ Zoro though as they were passing through the all-time busy roads of the city, Zoro kept his eyes closed all the time, it was just the sound of traffic and feel of his hands that hold Jane’s shoulders for grip were the only thing that was keeping him reminding that he was actually not floating in mid-air like a ghost.

\---------------

They soon were out of those busy roads and were on long empty road, instead of increasing speed she decreased it and pulled over at the side which made Zoro open his eyes,

“Jane?” she was putting on some yellow coloured glasses, they actually were night vision glasses for bike driving. She had them in bike itself in the metallic pocket on tank which would open with her thumb-print.

“Zoro it’s gonna be frigging chilly, take this and cover your nose and mouth.” She handed him over a dark green coloured windcheater bandana and a black beanie,

“Oh! I am always hot like a furnace, don’t worry! By the way, you had these in your pockets of the Parka?” Zoro said amused as he put on the beanie on his head.

“Wanna freeze to death Zoro? Do as I say, keep your hands in pocket of your jacket, if you feel off balance don’t hesitate to hold on to me, okay? I really am gonna go all out because it’s really been a while I did anything like this. Hey, I only have one pair of glows and I am gonna need them if we wanna make it back in one piece, if your jacket is not enough you may use my jacket as shield as I would be facing most of the wind, you may put your hands on my parka pockets” Jane said as she put her bandana on.

“You are the boss! Now let’s ride!” Zoro said in amused voice as he put on the bandana and Jane put her glows.

And Jane started the bike again, this time the roar was way much more loud and racy,

**Zoro’s POV**

As Jane put her glows on and tuned the key to start the bike…

‘It is as if she just fired up a rocket launcher!’ I yelled inside my mind.

‘I was greeted by the aggressive racy sound exciting the four square organ style pipes, she had the handlebars in her hands as if to say that it’s easy to take bull by its horns, it was as if she had a perfectly tamed a tiger growling in anticipation of upcoming battle as it took petting and love from its master, I felt bike getting raised in the air from the front end and soon I had to hold on to her to be able to remain seated in place as the wheel rose in air and we started moving forward. After few seconds, we were jerked forward as the front wheel made contact with the rough surface of dark, long, lonely road. Within seconds speed increased and I understood what Jane meant by ‘it’s gonna be chilly!’ It was fucking too cold for me to handle, I could feel my teeth chatter!’

I put my hands in the pockets of her military green parka and hugged her from behind firmly, it was the only warmth I could get, I was not dressed to fight off this kind of cold though I was confident that I would be fine. It was chilly alright but the speed of bike and that wind was making it way more dangerous, adding to the chilling factor.

I could feel the overwhelming power of the engine, the torque the bike had and the way Jane was handling it. The bike didn’t even break a sweat to climb up the top speed, we already had reached good 170 mph when I could glance at the beautiful panel of the bike. It felt as if we were actually racing with wind itself, velocity was far too much to handle for my bare eyes, I literally felt like I was flying when I closed my eyes, speed still kept increasing for few seconds but then it dropped gradually till I felt the heartbeat sound and hum of bike again. 

I should have pulled off from her, I should have taken my hands off her pockets but I kept them there, she did not ask me to back off either. I was practically holding her in my arms and I wanted that feeling to remain for as long as it could, the back seat was kind of elevated so I was having my hands above her waist but below her chest, I felt heat reaching my cheeks. The feeling was simply mesmerizing, holding her like that was elevating my heart beats, I liked being close to her like that. I really never thought that I would have a woman in my arms and I would like it this way!

There was no distance between our bodies but there still was quiet a distance between us, I understood perfectly the meaning of the phrase they use, ‘so close yet so far away’. I wanted to close that distance so badly. That day I made a resolve that I would get to know her full well and I understood what was the real difference between attraction and love.

That day it was clear to me that ‘I have fallen for Jane indefinitely and irrevocably. I did not just want to kiss her or sleep with her, I want to be close to her for my entire life, I want to be by her side in every better and worse situation no matter what, I want to take all her pain and sorrow away, even at the cost of my own happiness. I have realized that I waited for Jane, I wanted her, I wanted her so bad!’

I leaned my head on her small shoulders and felt her twitch a little, withing a second feeling of sadness took over me and I immediately started to pull off as I took my hands out but I felt a small colder hand grabbing mine and pushing my hand inside the pocket, pulling me to her. That was that, first one, the only feeling closer to being loved, somebody let me in their personal bubble voluntarily, Sanji had been intimate with me many times but he always was tipsy and not a single occasion passed the he did  not regret being with me or touching me for that matter, it's Jane who made me felt loved, just a little but for once, somebody gave that feel, loved.......first one I have ever felt since I became an adult, though she did not even practically touch me, I understood of meaning if love that day for sure, I felt a wave of relief washed over me and I leaned on her back again, hugged her firmly, after few minutes of a nice and constant speed, the wheels started speeding again.

Within mere minutes we were in the Law-less-zone of Saboady, she decreased the speed gradually and typed something in the panel of the bike, the panel guided us somewhere, I still had my head put on her shoulders and I was just stealing glances what she was up to as I was too much enjoying the bike ride and her company to find out what actually was happening.

We reached a place, we went through dark alley and a gate, we were on race tracks, there were people, bad people, bikers, they had all cheap biker coats and they looked like thugs to me.

‘Jane, what the hell are you doing!’ I thought I shot my head up, we went where the lights were,

A bike came in front of us, roaring loudly,

“Oi boys! This is our fucking territory! What the fuck ya outsiders doin' here?” I pulled back from her, sat straight but did not scoot back all the way; I kept my hands on her waist but out of the pockets now. I tried to move my legs.

‘Shit! I can’t unlock my knees, they are damned frozen!’ I thought looking helplessly at my legs but my thoughts were broken when Jane yelled.

“I just wanna race, is anybody up for a challenge! Just one race!” Jane yelled, her voice was different; it came from within the bandana, muffled and rough,

“What?” I yelled, Jane turned off the engine, put her feet on ground, balancing mine and bike’s weight easily as if it was not a big deal which I was amazed with, I couldn’t even make my feet move, if I would have been driving I should have had to let the bike and drop with me on it. We saw some people came walking towards us,

“Relax sweetheart!” Jane said and the next second he back connected to my chest...

'Holy shit!'

another second she took my hands in hers as she intertwined her fingers in mine

'Fuck! that felt awesome!!'

She kept out hands on her belly, put her head below my chin as she turned and looked at them. I was so confused but I felt so damn good when she did that, she was acting like my girlfriend, but she looks like a boy, so they would think my boyfriend, ‘Wait! What? B….. boyfriend?’

“So you boys can ride, hun?” a tall, bulky guy with tanned skin, weird mustache and black hair asked in loud voice with some other bulky guys followed him to the point where he stood,

“Betcha!” Jane said as she made herself comfortable on my chest, as we were being surrounded by thugs and armed gangsters, she was so relaxed that she did not move a bit and showed no sign of wanting to beat the hell out of those,

‘What is going on Jane? I wanted to get ready for a fight but she was in my arms, when I felt her getting comfy in my embrace, the heat was spreading up like fire in my whole body, I could not control myself watching her like that. I actually did not want Jane to feel the hardness coming to life in my pants, Shit! That would be so embarrassing! Fuck! What are you doing Jane? Don’t make them fight us, I don’t even feel my legs, how can we two take on these all people in this condition, hell I can’t even think straight when you are teasing me like this, Oh! I am so going to make you mine!’

“Why race? What’s in it for us?” that ugly guys said smugly.

“Simple, if ya win ya can have my bike, if I win I take money worth ma bike!” Jane said as she looked up so as to see my face, gave me a wink, pulled her bandana down from mouth a little and smiled sinisterly.

“And that is?” the guy said which made me and Jane to look at him, he folded his hands on his chest and his people took out knives and guns form their pockets, many others were having baseball bats, hockey sticks, metal rods.

“46 million berries….if you exclude the custom pain job, the phone and radio accessories, the finger print scanner, built in gun holder, tracking device, these glasses and many other items on it.” She said carelessly.

“The fuck!”  Many of them exclaimed as they had wide eyes, “Who the hell you think you are you skinny brat!” a man yelled, “Yeah! I bet he has a nice and tight ass!” another one yelled, “We could use that big boy too, he looks good too!” yet another one spat, “the hell you boys think you can come here, tease us and get away with it?” came a growling deep voice from behind us,

‘Shit! they wanna rape us? The fuck? I will fucking kill them all one by one if they so much as touch her hair’ I thought,

“That is very good option! So, how about we beat you two up, fuck your juicy little asses and take your bike without any race! That sounds pretty sexy deal to me pretty boy!” he said as he lit a cigar he had taken out from his pocket.

“Hell yeah!!” "Take 'em down!" all cheered up as it was some kind of freaky show or party. I wanted to get ready for a fight, but my legs won’t move and Jane still had my hands in hers,

"You go back to what you are doing before I decide to kill you fuckfaces!" I was annoyed and pissed, obviously it came a little animalistic but what happened after that was so fun,

"That was damned sexy! I loved it Zoro, the sound of your voice is damn good!" whispered Jane totally impressed, 

“Jane, hey, I think we should be getting ready to make them shit their pants!” I said as I was confused with her behaviour,

“Did you say something, you son of bitch!” yelled another man at Jane,

"Fuck off you fat bastard!" I spat as I glared at him,

"Cool!" said Jane smirking, I guess at the way my voice sounded,

“Jane!” I whisper yelled as I was pissed off at them eyeing us like that, I wanted to make them pay,

“Shsh baby! We are fine! No fighting!” she said in relaxed tone, ‘Damm, that sounded so hot! That’s it Jane, you are mine! I want to hear that everyday!’ I said in my mind, I knew I was blushing, 'Shit! what the hell!'

She un-joint our hands, I immediately felt the missing the warmth as she sat straight. I kept staring at her as she took out her bandana and her woollen cap, ruffled her hair and looked at the man, I followed her gaze and they were……….

bowing to her????

'What the hell?????????' i was totally confused,

All of them bowed her, within seconds whole place cleared off, I could no longer see any of them and a bike came out with a single rider on it, covered from top to bottom in blue coloured racing costume, he had white and dark blue helmet, I couldn’t see his face,

“What .....what the hell was that?” I asked Jane in confused voice.

“Those were my fans sweetheart and we are going to have nice ride, just hang on tight hulk-head.” She said putting back her bandana, her woollen hat which she wore so as the bill would be on my end which should have been in her front side.

Soon our bike started too, Jane took my left hand and pulled me on to her as I felt bike roaring hard, I moved my hands to hold on to her but suddenly there was a gunfire and the race started, I made my grip tighter as we banked on left side,

My eyes could not keep up the increasing speed so I had my eyes closed but I could feel the tunes, the curves bike would take, the banking we would have to do, we would lean up to the point that my knees almost felt road surface but they did not make any contact. I trusted Jane completely, with closed eyes and I was clinging on to her, feeling my heartbeat elevated at the excitement of race, not that I was afraid but I could not see what was happening, I did not want her to get into an accident because I told her I wanted to feel the air while she drives, I never had imagined it would be like this, the race was the most awesome thing that could have happened to me this goddamned boring week.

I opened my eyes when speed started to decrease abruptly and wheels made a screech, our bike was lifted from back end, it made a half circle and rested on ground again

“That felt cool!” I said before I could control myself,

The other racer guy was getting off his bike placing his helmet on he took his helmet off the tank and smiled at Jane then he looked at me with glint of intense anger in his eyes, I pulled off of her and scooted a little back to create a distance as I was feeling a scrutinizing gaze of the blonde racer as if to tell me to back off, but I kept my hands on her waist. She leaned back a little but did not made her back touch me,

“Zoro, as usual I trust you won’t ask any questions and you won’t speak of this to anybody, not even to Luffy or your lover if any!” Jane whispered her usual sentence, which she kept using when she took me on one of her investigation tours, she took out her bandana and glasses,

“Yeah!” I whispered back, I tried to move my legs, I found out that I was feeling my knees now, I tried to touch them and I gave a sigh and tried to slowly straighten them.

\--------------------end of Zoro’s Pov----------

A sweet looking blonde guy with scar of burns on his left side of his face came walking to Jane,

“Jane, where is your helmet?” he said in scolding tone as he stood close to her and folded his hands over his chest.

“I didn’t have any plans to come here or race but when my friend here said we are going to Sabaody, I could not help but inform ya!” she said innocently, he smiled and ruffled her hair.

“You should not have cut your hair, now you look like a cute boy!” He said as he continued ruffling her hair for a minute longer.

“Cuter than you?” she asked in mocking tone. He shook his head saying ‘no’ and snorted.

“So, you win this time, so we are even now!” he said in amused voice as he folded his hands over his chest again.

“Yup! Even alright! Anyways as I told you, I met Luffy and Ace today, they are just like they were, they missed me so much, I felt great seeing them after all these years and listening them say that they missed me. Those idiots are doing just fine, they have grown stronger, Sabo! They both miss you too you know! When are you going to meet them?” she asked worriedly.

“It’s still too risky, I definitely will come by when time is right, I am glad you finally met them, I know you needed to see them so much.” he said as he gave a sad smile.

“Yeah!” she said returning the gesture.

“So, you all good now? Is this your new boyfriend? I told you not to do that, didn't I?” he said in little irritated voice. Zoro raised his eyebrow at sound of his voice but Jane was still cool,

“Nah! Big guy  here must have frozen his legs so could not get off bike. I took little advantage of situation to get an opportunity to get to your head! I was just kidding, getting all clingy to him to piss you off, I won as I got you riled up! By the way, Sabo, this dud here is Zoro! My boyfriend!" said Jane shrugging,

"What?" yelled Sabo and Zoro in unison,

"C'mon boys! Let me have little fun! Geez! Sabo, Zoro is cool, he is nice, Luffy trusts him a lot. He is very important friend okay! Stop giving him death glares” Jane said patting Zoro’s leg,

‘I am very important?’ Zoro smiled at himself ever so slightly, ‘Wait Jane, important to you or to Luffy?’ Zoro thought as his smiled disappeared in seconds.

“Good try, I was really pissed off! By the way, Jane I want you to give up on that O’hara case.” Sabo said furrowing brows and closing his eyes.

“What? you too? Hell no! I am going to start from scratch when I come back from that frigging holiday!” Jane said in irritated voice. He sighed in defeat; he opened his eyes and looked sadly at Jane,

“Okay! I will try and help you! For now don’t tell Luffy or anybody else that you have means to contact me, or in fact, no telling that I am alive for that matter”

"Okay! Okay!" said Jane but something started beeping and Sabo quickly came forward, Zoro had to let go of her completely and Sabo hugged Jane firmly closing his eyes as he did,

“I am sorry hon. I am sorry that we need to wrap this up this quickly, I love you Jane! See you soon again, real soon I promise.” said as he pulled out from her,

“Love you too Sabo” she replied in calm and sad voice.

“Take care!” he yelled as he got on the bike. He soon drove away after giving Jane a worried glance.

\--------------

Jane started bike and they too drove away, they took different route this time and they soon were on a way to hill, Zoro did keep good distance between them but kept his hands on her shoulder, speed was not too much but they were pretty fast. Zoro had gotten used to cold by now he was enjoying the ride and silence. They reached the hill and Jane stopped the bike at the small clearing it had, there was a cliff on the other side and they could see small dots blinking far way, they were city lights, bridges were visible as small lines, so was the river and a lake was near a hill, view was pretty and atmosphere was calm and cold,

“Zoro, you feel your legs now, can we stop here for a min?” Jane asked in worried voice.

“Yeah! sure.” Zoro moved his legs while he said that and got off, but he cringed at the sudden feel of awkwardness in his legs as he stood balancing his own weight and bent away from bike. She quickly got off and supported him.

“Hey you okay?” she asked.

“Yup a little cold-jammed” Zoro said as he started laughing all of a sudden.

“What? What happened?” Jane asked.

“Man! This is supposed to be other way round! You are completely insane, you know that Jane?” Zoro said trying to contain his laughter.

“Hey buddy, talk to me here! What you mean by other way round? And I sure as hell am insane but you are not quite the sane one, you know!” Jane said narrowing her eyes on him and keeping her hands on her hips.

After his laughter died down, Zoro could manage to stand straight and he looked at Jane,

“I mean I should be the one making everybody jealous as I had you with me and how many damned brothers you have to have hun?” Zoro said as he took her woolen hat out and placed it nicely the right way, the bill now in front covering her forehead. He gripped the bill and tilted it as she furrowed her brows,

“Why, because you are the guy and am the girl? I thought that boat sailed long ago! And how the hell did you figure out that Sabo is my brother?” She asked annoyed raising her delicate blonde eyebrow.

“Oh! So he IS! Gottcha Robocop!” Zoro said smirking and Jane sighed. She grabbed his jacket and made him walk with her. They went over the cliff edge and sat at the edge of the hill, keeping legs hanging down the steep slope.

“Jane, he was angry at the fact that I nearly had you in my arms!......" Jane felt heat rushing to her face, she looked away from his eyes but nodded her head and Zoro continued,

"...........You yourself said that you did all that to piss him off, he sounded like a brother not lover. Lover would have wanted to beat the hell out of me for that, not just get pissed off at me and hell, overprotective and possessive one might actually have killed me for touching you” Zoro said in amused voice but she looked at him with wide eyes and a blank face,

"What! I just said what i thought!" said Zoro and Jane gave a curt nod and turned her head to look at the blinking city lights far away from them,

_“Baby, stop!! Stop please, he will die! He did not do anything wrong, it was my mistake. It was just a misunderstanding. I must not have heard his voice over the sound of music. Stop, don’t hurt him more.” Jane kept yelling, begging Lucci to stop punching the poor guy, he was in bad shape, teeth were broken, he spat blood thrice already and he was in so much pain almost on verge of losing consciousness, ‘his rib must have been broken, I heard that sound’ Jane thought._

_Lucci had asked him to meet outside the bar, he was being beaten to pulp by Lucci so badly that Kaku had come running to Jane and told her that Lucci had gone mad and he was going to kill the Bluno’s friend, the bartender in bar where Bluno worked at, he was beating the hell out of the bartender like mad man._

_“Stop right now or I am leaving!” Jane yelled at Lucci, he still punched the guy in chest and there was a sound of bone being broken again. She hissed as she could no longer bear watching him hurting an innocent man for just a misunderstanding and she just took off, walking away from them. Kaku intervened in the matter. For disturbing Lucci, Kaku had a punch coming to his face too which he somehow stopped with minimal damage and said, “Lucci, Jane is leaving, you must go, she sounded hurt and angry!” he whispered._

_Lucci closed his eyes in annoyance and opened again as he looked over his shoulders to look back as he glared at the badly beaten up fellow on the ground and stood up straight, calm himself down, dusted his suit and adjusted the neck tie. He looked at retreating form of pissed off Jane and ran to stop her._

_He went over her and stood in front of her blocking her path. She did not say anything just closed her eyes in annoyance and stood there. Jane felt her face being cupped on the right side by a large and warm hand, her right cheek being caressed very lovingly by a thumb. She kept her eyes closed thinking how can this very hand be so merciless that broke bones of somebody, her eyebrow furrowed further, she felt slight warm weight on her forehead, she felt her face being tilted upwards, she felt warm breath on her nose,_

_“Jane, I can’t stand it when anybody touches you without your consent!” whispered Lucci._

_“Jane, baby, look at me. Look, he should not have held your wrist. How can control my anger when I see something like that?” He asked in his deep voice. She opened her eyes to look at him, she was still pissed off and he could see that. She took his hand in hers to make him pull away from her face. She took a step back._

_“Lucci, he just wanted me to stop taking away the wrong bottle, I would have dropped the bottle of I would have gotten the shocked by his sudden actions, he must have done it instinctively. He is no fighter, he took you first punch and collapsed, look how much you have hurt him. He was just another hardworking normal guy, he has broken ribs now, you are way too strong for trained fighters let alone the simple bartender and moreover I can protect myself when time calls for it, I have gun on me for God’s sake. Why you keep doing that, why you hurt poor defenseless people like that?” Jane sounded frustrated._

_“Well, normal  guy or fighter, he should have kept hands off my girlfriend!” Lucci said in serious tone, furrowing brows and looking away._

_“Here we go again! He did not touch me with that intention. Lucci, it was mere an accident!” She said making him look at her._

_“Jane, I can’t control my rage when I see somebody touch you!” he said in serious voice again as he put his hands in his pockets._

_She sighed and left in different direction away from him. Upon hearing footsteps, Lucci opened his eyes again and called her to make her come back but he followed her as she did not give any sign of stopping. He again ran faster, stood to block her path and suddenly took her in his arms, she put her hands on his chest so as to push him away but stopped as his expressions were different this time and he had his arms around her waist, he bent down and touched their foreheads and looked in her blue eyes,_

_“I won’t do it again, okay! I won’t!” he said in trying to sound soft, as if to say sorry. Well he never said the word ‘sorry’ to anybody, he would never apologies._

_“You won’t?” Jane asked in sad voice with disbelief._

_“Yes baby, I promise I won’t hurt the innocent! Now please don’t be mad at me. Please?” he said and bent down, slumped himself on her smaller frame for a minute, he felt her hands travelling from his chest to upside, soon around his neck and she finally hugged him back. He lifted her off her feet and hugged her more firmly._

_“Lucci, call the ambulance.” She whispered._

_“Yes, right away love. I will see that he gets treated well and also pay for his medical bills, just relax now.” he said as he put her down and called ambulance and told them about the guy. As he was blindfolded all the time, he did not know who was beating him to the pulp._

_\------------_

_They drove home, as in to Lucci’s penthouse. She was not having any mood to have a dinner and drinks in hotel or restaurant anymore so they had come home, that incident had ruined her mood and so the whole date. Lucci had told her that he would cook and they can still enjoy the weekend at his place._

_Lucci was in kitchen for more than 40 minutes while Jane was in bedroom, doing something on Lucci’s laptop and printing photos to place them in the scrap book area Lucci had prepared to decorate their bedroom wall, after sometime Jane came in kitchen for glass of water._

_She took a bottle, seeped water from it, smiled at Lucci who was looking back at her when she turned to look at him, she kept bottle on the table and waved him so as to leave the kitchen, when she was about to move from her spot, Lucci came and grabbed her from backside as he put his arms around her smaller form._

_“You still mad at me aren’t you?” Lucci whispered as he brought his head over her shoulder from behind while he kissed the base of her neck. She threw her head back so as to lean on him, as she looked at the ceiling,_

_“No…. and yes, I mean not at you, but this whole thing kinda messed up with my mood, in turn our date and we came home. I really can’t spend that much time with you in the first place and I now, I can’t believe I messed up everything today.” Jane sounded so disappointed. He made her look away from ceiling, pulled away from her to make her turn so as to face him. He wrapped his arms around her again and brought his face closer to hers as he touched his forehead to hers,_

_“I messed up not you. And I am going to make it up to you!” he whispered as he gave chaste kiss on her lips and lifted her up in his arms, moved a little,_

_“Lucci!!” she gave a gasp as he sat her on counter,_

_“Baby you really are not mad at me anymore?” he said in low voice, now Jane was at his eye level, she smiled as she took his face in her palms and kissed his nose, she shook her head saying ‘no’._

_“Jane, I love you so much” he said pulling her to his chest with his right hand on her waist and capturing her lips before she could reply him, he took her hands in his left and made them travel all the way back to her own back and hold them in his left hand, his other hand went inside her t-shirt, as usual caressing her waist,_

_“Aaaah!” she moaned in the kiss as she felt his warm fingers on her skin, he traced lines on her waist with his fingers,_

_He pushed his tongue inside Jane’s inviting submissive mouth, made a growl of satisfaction and enjoyed the way she let him devour her, he tugged on her hands more, she tried to throw her head back as she wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to pull him nearer her if it was even possible._

_He tiptoed to deepen the kiss, she moaned as he sucked on her tongue and his hand had gone up in the valley of her breasts to unbutton her bra. Her chest heaved for breath as he pulled out from her lips, Lucci drank the sight of his beautiful lover melting in his arms, he gave a euphoric growl as he licked her chin and jaw. She had her head tilted back giving him access to all of her long pale neck. He attacked her neck with hungry kisses and made her shiver in embrace of his powerful body wrapped around her lean form, he kissed and sucked on the pale skin leaving marks of possession and trail of saliva,_

_“Aaah! Lu….cci!” she moaned when made his way down to collar bone and bit down on the skin above it leaving a mark of possession, making his way further down to the left boob, she struggled to get her hands free but he hold them tighter bringing his right hand up from her waist to chest, from inside of T shirt to stretch the material and pulled T-shirt down as to get access inside as he kept kissing her skin of chest. Right hand went to caress her left boob, his thumb slightly and teasingly sliding over the pink and hardened nipple as she tried to scoot back a little. He let her hands go to move his hand inside her t-shirt, on her back to keep her in place and he seductively traced her spine as he kissed the pale skin of her chest but the timer on oven gave away loud beeping alarm and snapped back the lovers._

There was silence, thick silence that screamed inside Jane’s head, silence that begged Jane to let go of those memories, these painful memories were only thing that made her feel like Lucci ever existed in her life, Zoro and Jane sat in silence with good foot distance between them. After 15 minutes of silence, after that memory that brought back the pain, the missing warmth, those powerful arms that always held her, those absent warm hands that caressed her skin made Jane felt the cold in the air more painful to fight off. Her body shivered uncontrollably and visibly at the thought, she had sudden urge to jump off the cliff, Zoro noticed her weird behavior and he almost got shocked at her sudden change of attitude,

“Jane??” he yelled as Jane was actually bending dangerously down with wide eyes and blank face as if to let go of her seat on the edge of cliff, Zoro’s firm grip on her left arm snapped her back to reality,

“Yeah Zoro! Something the matter?” she said in dry voice, no expressions at all,

“You kidding me, what the hell were you doing?” Zoro asked annoyed.

“I don’t know, I …I was just thinking a lot, you …you know about ….the past, memories came back, they were………I was just …sorry!” Jane said as she couldn’t form a sentence to convey her feelings without giving away any information. She stared at him confused for a second,

“Are you apologizing for being a human Jane! Whatever it is! Just let it go okay!” Zoro said but Jane did not say anything, she just stared at him.

He changed his position a little, brought his leg up from the hanging position so as to sit facing Jane completely, he never lost the grip on her arm he pulled her back a little, he brought his second arm up in air and wiped with his first finger something off Jane’s right cheek, side opposite where Zoro had been sitting beside her.

“Is that a tear?” Jane asked stupidly with a blank face.

“It’s warm, it should be.” He said simply nodding slightly.

Jane blinked to force tears away; she blinked violently to put the memories at bay.

“Hey! You okay captain?” Zoro asked again.

“Yes! Corporal, I am fine.” She said fake smiling at him, he pulled her closer as he already had grip on her arm, put an arm around her shoulder. He wanted to take her in his arms, or put his arms around her waist but ‘I should not be taking advantage of situation, for now I will be your friend Jane, you really need somebody!’ Zoro thought.

After a minute or two Jane finally spoke in calm voice,

“You are right, Sabo is my brother too. Sabo, Ace, Luffy and me, we spent our childhood together, I was with them for four…. five years may be, I am older than Luffy, but Ace and Sabo, they are of my age. We were like siblings, we have always had this bond between us, a connection that never broke, even after they though that I was dead. We were really close, we still are, I love them all too much, it’s great day for me today that I met all of them. I am happy after a long time and I apparently have lost the appetite for happiness I guess” Jane said in defeated voice.

“Don’t keep it all bottled up Jane. Share it with whomever you trust, there are people who love you no matter what, I mean there must be someone, like the one you call your dad, he must be something, if you want to call him your dad, he must have earned it. Just tell somebody.” Zoro said as he turned his head and narrowed his eyes staring beyond the horizon.

“My dad hun! Well you see, the person I call brother now, he is the one who had adopted me as his kid sister; but he is more like my father. He and his friend took me in, took care of me since I got separated from Luffy and them, I was just 10. The person who I call dad is actually that friend of my brother and his name is Shanks. He is more fatherly than brother and I call him dad sometimes because he likes it, he likes that feeling of being a father to me. He does everything trying to be best father, he has always been there, all the times when I needed and the way I needed, my father, teacher, best friend, boss, trainer, cook, manager, nanny, story teller, partner in dance, homework buddy, a shoulder to cry on. He was my world.” Jane said smiling to herself but she did not notice Zoro was looking keenly at her face.

“Before?” Zoro asked wide eyed.

“Hun?”   Jane asked confused.

“You said he was your world, means something happened and that thing changed. Right?” Her expressions did not change much but eyes got sad as Zoro finished the question but Zoro immediately furrowed his brows and made ‘I am sorry’ face as he realized that he was opening her wounds.

“On second thought, Jane, don’t answer that! Just forget I said anything, God! I am such an asshole! I am sorry” Zoro said smacking his forehead with his fist.

“It’s okay. Anyways, we should probably getting back now.” Jane said and Zoro’s mobile phone started ringing, he took out to find that it was Ace’s number. He picked up the call,

“Yeah Ace?” Zoro said standing up. He offered Jane a hand but found that she was already getting up.

“Yeah Ace my ass, where the hell are you guys? Law said that you are not in the city?” Ace asked panicking.

“How the hell did he know that?” Zoro asked confused. Jane was dusting her clothes and she put the bandana on and placed her woolen hat other way round to face the bill backside again. Zoro dusted off his clothes too and followed Jane as she was walking towards the bike.

“That’s not important, come back here right now, we are going to have dinner together.” Ace said in hurried voice. Jane had put her glasses back on as she got comfy on her bike and motioned Zoro to hurry.

“Yeah, sure thing, we will be back in a flash. We would see you directly as _Baratie_ then?” Zoro asked as he got in the backseat. The call ended and he put back his mobile phone in his pocket.

“Baratie?” Jane asked. Zoro put his beanie and bandana on.

“Yup, everyone is going there for dinner, Ace was worried about you!” Zoro said as bike got started.

"Hum, figures!" said Jane in loud voice above the sound of engine,

“Jane?” Zoro said in uneasy voice as he brought his face near her left ear, she let the bike growl for a minute till it died down to soft hum.

“Yeah!” She replied.

“Can...um...can I hold you?” Zoro asked, he was already pretty close to her, his chest almost touched her back, his hands dared to catch her waist, her heartbeat was elevating and she did not know why. She paused for a minute and let the bike hum, the sound resonated through air, wind was wrapping around them, bike made a roar even without Jane doing anything with her hands on the bike handlebars, Jane narrowed her eyes in her bike,

‘What is happening? Why my heart is racing like that? I just had heartbreak mere three months back? How can Zoro stir my feelings like that? What did he mean by holding me? I did say while back that he could hold on to me if he felt off balance? Is he talking about that?’ Jane though.

“Yeah!” said Jane before she knew she said anything, she just was contemplating about what Zoro asked.... and

Zoro’s arms wrapped around her form with....with a force...she felt a gentle push forward, as if……as if he had been holding himself back from doing this for some time, she swallowed thickly as she took in his warmth, his musky scent, his touch, his hands around her gave her tingling that she had not experienced for a while, that she had not experienced for anybody else than Lucci, that made her take a sharp breath in. Bike roared further as if to give the sound to Jane’s speeding heart, her pupils dilated at the thought of Zoro holding her the way a lover would, his closeness making her feel protected and loved. Jane felt the warmth, passion and love in his embrace, ‘it is not a hug that Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Shanks would give me, this is different. He is being different right from the start, his hug is intimate but different than Lucci’s possessive hugs’, even with all those layers of clothes between them she could actually feel his body heat, ‘feels like I am safe though I don’t need to be, it is like he is saying that nothing could hurt me without hurting him first. Why?’ Jane thought.

He got settled on pillion after he let go of her and put his arms in the pockets on her parka again, they drove back to _Baratie_ and the trip back to the _Baratie_ was simply amazing, Jane could not think about anything other than those hands around her and that warm chest on her back and Zoro could only think of her and he felt his resolve of confessing her about his feelings got yet stronger.

Jane and Zoro reached the _Baratie_ and joined up with rest of the group, they seated next to each other, there was not much change in Zoro’s behavior as he often kept to himself even being with group, he did not talk much or meddled in anybody's affairs nor did he look at anybody or talk unless spoken to, but Jane’s behavior was pretty much different which of course only was noticed by Law.

Law was confused and worried about Jane. He trusted Zoro but did not want things get worse than they already were for Jane.


	7. What is love?

 

**_On 49 th floor of Hawkeye tower…….._ **

Jane sat on her bed, looking bored out of her mind, her face had an uninterested look on it and her nose was scrunched up as if there was something really bad going on, her foot was impatiently tapping on the ground and that was only sign that Jane actually had not turned into a statue, she had been sitting like that for more than 20 minutes now, which was very uncharacteristic for her. Her cellphone was carelessly thrown on her bed somewhere behind where she sat and her laptop was open somewhere on her desk, there was light music playing in very low sound in her room, glass walls were blackened due to shutters as she had the night mode on, room was dim lit, she had empty backpack and a duffel bag open on ground in front of her wide, big ass wardrobe. There was light beam coming from kitchen illuminating the mirror she sat in front of, she was supposed to complete the report to submit before the evening but it was not even close from getting done, mirror on left side was reflecting her image. Skinny light blue jeans, baggy gray t-shirt, messy blond hair, Jane was feeling so defeated she would have run from grand line all the way to red line to be out of this situation right now,

“Aaaaargh! Go to hell!” Jane yelled at her laptop throwing her hands in the air and finally changing her position she looked up to the white ceiling and slumped herself on the bed and threw her arms above her head as she got dropped on the plush bed,

Her cell phone beeped, she gave her cell phone a glare while Shanks came walking into her room, he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to elbow,

“Hello beautiful!” exclaimed Shanks but looked at her defeated frame thrown over bed carelessly and made a worried face,

“What is with you today?” Shanks said confused,

He touched some touch buttons on the glass panel built in the white wall near door returning room to normal conditions, it was about 5:30 pm, it was not that dark yet, he turned off the sad music that was being played, increased the room temperature by 2 degrees to take it to 26 as its was quiet chilly and came walking over to her and dropped himself on the bed right next to her on her right side, she turned her head to look at him, she found him looking back at her,

“I don’t wanna go” she whispered in sad voice and making childish sad face.

“We are not doing it again, we have talked about it like 100 times already” Shanks said giving her amused grin.

“I want to be with you or you just come with me!” she said as she threw her left leg around his waist and her left arm around his chest as she snuggled closed to him by gripping his shirt.

“Now you are just being childish.” Shanks said as he run his right hand through her hair and used left hand to sneak around her waist and pull her in comfy position so that her head would be on his shoulder and he secured her firmly with his left hand.

“C’mon dad, please come with us, I want you to go with me!” demanded Jane again,

“Jane, Law, Vivi, Usopp and Kaya, whole of your team is there, now you also have got Luffy and Ace, why you need an old man like me for? Just enjoy with your friends, will ya?” he said as he massaged her scalp.

“Nah, you are not that old! You are handsome and strong, you are better than all boys I know. I just don’t wanna go!” she yelled stuffing her face in his chest.

“I am going to come to see you off, I want to see Luffy too! It would be exciting to see his reaction!” Shanks smiled at the memory of Luffy’s smiling face.

Her cellphone beeped again,

“Oh! Is that your texting friend?” Shanks asked as he felt her twitch at the beep.

“He has a name!” came her muffled voice,

“You aren’t replaying him?” Shanks asked in worried tone.

“What? No, I am replying back alright! But right now I am too comfy to move and besides I told you he hugged me out of the blue that day! I don’t know, he seems…… different!” Jane said not taking her face out from this shirt.

“So, you don’t like him? Is he pushy? Or is he..” Shanks was cut off as she suddenly shot up her head to look at him.

“No, it’s not like that, he is a nice guy.” She said curtly as she looked at him with childish angry face.

“So, he likes texting?”

“Yeah. The he texts a lot, texts are casual. He asked if I felt offended that day and said sorry too, like twice. I felt damn horrible for it later. I don’t know why I try avoiding him but that day actually I let him do that, I mean he asked me if he could hold me……… and……….. I said yes…I mean…….I thought he just wanted to hold on to me as…. we were on bike and all. I know it’s just a hug, not a big deal. I mean, I made such fuss about it. I feel so terrible!”

“Okay honey…. It’s okay…I understand what you are saying!”

“Dad you know how I feel about people touching me since all that Lucci incident. I mean, since I had found out his extent of possessiveness was far too much for people to handle, I had avoided ………Umm…..people……… so as not let him get chance to beat the hell out of them, so I guess….I am still too cautious about it……[sigh]…. but that does not matter now. He should not be apologizing for such a trivial thing but I don’t know why I ....” her voice was sad and tired but she stopped talking when cell beeped again,

“You should tell him to stop texting until you clear your head. Wait, I will reply him not to text until you are sure about this..” he said as he quickly smirked and pretended to move his left arm off her, to take her cellphone but Jane suddenly looked up again.

“No! I mean… let him text. I….I will reply, I am actually scared that I might really start liking him.” Jane said the last part quiet quickly; pain was written all over her face. When Shanks’ eye met her, she smiled sadly and quickly looked away and stuffing her face in his shirt.

“Then, what is the problem?” Shanks was very serious now,

“I don’t want it to be like that! I want a real thing, I want to be in love forever, I mean…. Even after he said that he was done and you said that that was all an act………..in my heart somewhere…….I still have Lucci in my mind, I know it is all useless and it’s never going to work. He never meant to love me, he never meant to marry me ………………but I just can’t stop having these feelings, you know I can’t stop missing him all of a sudden, I loved him with all I had.” She had started shedding silent tears, Shanks could feel his shirt getting wet where she had her face placed. He moved his hand on her back soothingly and caressed her head with his fingertips in her hair as she continued after giving a sob.

“Baby just keep talking……tell me everything!”

“Now that he has left, I feel…….. so empty……. but when …….when Zoro is around that emptiness is almost gone, that pain almost feels fading away and that is what I am afraid of……[sniffle]……. I don’t wanna experience anything like what Lucci did to me ever again, I can’t………I can’t stand it. [sob] …..If it would not have been for you....... dad……..[sob], I might have collapsed completely but I can’t go through that again. I just don’t want to go through that again, ever!” she said and closed her eyes letting more of tears come out.

“Hey! Don’t think like that. No matter how many times you get hurt you have always made a comeback and how many times you need me I will always be there. You are a fighter Jane, you have always been, since you were a kid, I know you will fight this time too. Just think about it, you have handled worse and that time you were mere 6. You are strong girl and Dad wants you to be happy!” came deep an soothing voice of Shanks but Jane shivered when Shank’s mentioned about her handling worse times when she was a kid, Shank’s felt his heart getting heavy as he held his daughter close as if somebody was going to take her away from him; he was feeling very bad that he could not do anything when she got hurt that badly.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that I can’t stop Zoro from getting closer to me. I am so damn selfish…..[sniffle], I feel like I am some kind of villain or something because I want him around as he makes the pain go away. I don’t know why he makes me feel better……[sob]…. he knows nothing about me, I have always tried to be so distant and I did not tell him anything, he too never asked anything personal but…”

Jane bit her lip, her face was red from crying now, her closed eyes gave out warm tears.

“But?”

“He seems to find a way to talk with me and meet me and…….[sob]……. Law said that he is never been into a girl before….ever, Ace said he is a loner, Vivi said he is hotheaded and often keeps to himself, Luffy said he is trustworthy but he is lonely type, Kaya said he is strong but he never talks freely and nobody knows anything about his past or his family……[sob]………… But I felt he is real talkative guy, he told me about his family just the second time we met, he did not seem like a loner at all and he shares what happened with him over texts even when I don’t reply. Complete opposite of what people told me father! I don’t know!”

When he heard her referring him as father he knew she was getting weaker by the minute and she needed to stop thinking about past, she needed to stop linking her present life with her past. Shanks pulled Jane up with him and sat up with her in his lap, she looked small and defeated. Jane had got cuddled up in his lap like a frightened child, he took his handkerchief out and gently wiped her tears off, she was looking down, and her face was red, tear stained and her eyes well puffy and red. She was feeling miserable because she cried, she thought that crying was for the weak, he took her in hug again and she rested her head on his shoulder,

“Jane Love changes people. Honey, you have seen your brother behave uncharacteristically around me, haven’t you?” Shanks asked in serious voice he was taking conversation form Lucci betraying her to Zoro trying to reach out to her, he knew what they were chatting and when and where they meet, he had his eye on Zoro for a while now,

“Love? You guys have been together forever! How many years it has been?” she said in weak voice.

“Yes, but he realized it just a few months back, you know everything what happened before that. I had these feelings for him since I met him; I mean I was in love with him literally since the moment I saw him. I did not know why I felt that way for him. I had lot of hot and strong guys around me for crying out loud. But I liked Mihawk in particular, I never wanted any other.”

“I know that, he is really lucky to have you! I am lucky to have you! That ungrateful bastard! Why you love him anyway?” said Jane irritated,

“You know what the most amazing part is I still have no particular reason to tell that why I love him. But I do love him, no matter what.” Jane looked up to mate his gaze with confused face and worried eyes, he just shrugged a little,

“Love is so amazingly different! I still don’t get it sometimes, after all these years I still don’t know **why** I feel that way for him though I know **exactly what** I feel for him, and that is what is important. I had bad patch too. He had got married; he was married for good four years. You know it better baby, it was not easy for me, it had hurt so much, so much that I can’t put it in words. But I was still around him, around you. You kept me going on somehow. I did not know what else to do. Mihawk and you have always been my whole world. I thought he was happy so I tried to be happy for him” Shanks said as he was moving his hand soothingly on her back.

She was listening intently, when he mentioned Mihawk getting married she had remembered the way Shanks had felt broken, she now knew the pain; she knew how much he must have felt hurt, the moment he mentioned that marriage, she had hugged him firmer and tried buried her face deep in his chest.  Shanks knew she understood his sorrow, she always did. Shanks continued further in his soothing voice,

“If Lucci really was the one then you should not have felt better with Zoro around and just try to forget him baby, I know you loved him but he was not himself when he committed himself to you. Honey, that person you loved, regretfully never existed. That does not mean there is no soulmate out there for you. Zoro could be that person, at least give him a chance, try to be friends with him, let see where this goes, I am always with you no matter what and you know you can tell me anything anytime anywhere.” Shanks said calmly. He was at somewhat ease as Jane had stopped crying now. She took her face off Shanks’ chest and faced him with sad eyes and tear stained confused face but not losing grip over his shirt just yet,

“I don’t know, I don’t want to be hurt anymore but I don’t want Zoro to get hurt because of me, what if I am just meant to be alone, what if I am just not meant not to be loved? Dad, am I going mad?” She asked in weak voice.

Jane’s cellphone beeped again. He kissed her on her head and hugged her firmly,

“No baby, don’t think like that, just reply him, don’t cry now. We are going for a walk, pull yourself together and wrap this up, I will finish up in kitchen in 10 minutes okay?”

“No, I want to stay like this for a minute” he hummed and held Jane for half hour and then she pulled out from him, she got off his lap.

“You sure you are going to okay now?” Shanks asked worriedly while he too was about to stand up,

She nodded and smiled weakly, he stood up ruffled her hair and went to kitchen.

She sighed and took her phone in her hands, it was 6:30 pm there were 3 texts, all were Zoro’s, nobody texted her beside him,

 

 _'Yo Robocop, Up for beer and dinner?  :) Cmon it’s been a while!’_ Jane smiled at the text and opened next.

 

 _‘M srry if u did feel bad for that day :(_  '

‘Oh! He has apologized for like third time now, I never saw that coming, he seemed like a guy who would never say sorry to anybody, like Lucci……shit! Not him, Zoro is nothing like him!’

_‘U r coming for the holiday tour that we had planned, right? I am going only if u r’_ she smiled at the text, she actually did not wanna go but Shanks and Law would not listen. Jane felt heat rushing to her cheeks, ‘What? Am I blushing now, seriously?? blushing at the text?’ she quickly exited the application.

 

_‘U knw wht plz gmmi a call whn u r free, need to talk’_

was the last text, Jane sighed after checking all the texts, he already had said sorry that day before she left the Baratie, after that they did not text much, rather Jane would not reply like she used too, they did not even meet, Jane seemed reluctant to talk which Zoro had noticed so did Law.

She decided to call Zoro and she dialed his number and he picked up after a minute,

 

“Jane?” Zoro’s voice was uneasy.

“Yeah! It’s me. I did not see your text, I am sorry. I am coming to that stupid vacation or whatever alright! And hey! Don’t worry about that……..that………[ Jane sighed audibly]. Zoro, I know I am being an ass ….let us just forget that thing…okay….. l will send car for you all in the morning, tell everybody to be ready, tomorrow 10:30 in the morning, we will be travelling by plane, okay?” said Jane,

‘She sounds like she is been crying her eyes out, her voice is different. So, is she really not mad at me after all? I should have been careful! You make people cry…why the hell are you crying for eh?’ Zoro thought.

“Yeah! Thanks Jane! Umm……..You have any plans for dinner tonight?” Zoro’s voice was still uneasy.

‘He must have felt bad, am such an idiot. He is sounding so nervous!’ Jane thought.

“Yeh! It’s my dad, he is cooking for us, I need time with him today but I will see ya tomorrow!” Jane said in calm voice as she thought of Shanks.

‘Oh! She can’t come, I thought I could have made it up to her, I really wanted to see her today! I mean we will be together from tomorrow for like 2 weeks and I am really excited for that but there will be people with us, I don’t even know if I would get a chance to talk to you with all these people around Jane.’ Zoro thought.

“Yeh! Okay! So……. umm….. Hey! Are you okay? You sound ……I don’t know … little off?” Zoro asked with disbelief as he could not come up with anything more to make her keep talking as he did not want to hang up just yet, ‘ We are talking after two whole weeks, I wanna hear her more!’ Zoro thought.

“I am ok, what can happen to me! I was just …” before Jane could talk more she was interrupted as Zoro started talking…

“Hey! You sound like you cried buckets, is it too wrong to ask that, I mean we are friends…….[pause]………, aren’t we Jane?” he asked in tired voice which Jane could feel all the way from all the distance. She gave an inaudible sigh and dropped her shoulders,

“Yes, we are. Okay, here is the deal, I will see you at Brook’s after 10, I will give you a call when I reach there, gear up for the winter motor biking……. Umm………I mean, for a chilly long drive…I will see you then.......” Jane said in awkward voice, thinking back about the ride they had that day, she really wanted Zoro to believe that she considered him as a friend and she was not freaked out at the simple hug or something, but she was afraid that she would be hurting him,

No reply came from Zoro's end as she waited for some time for him to reply,

‘Why is not he replying, is he okay? Shit? Was he driving while talking? Was he working on case or investigating somewhere? Did something happen to him? Is he okay?’ thoughts panicked Jane and she stood up and started pacing before she knew…

‘Did she just tell me that she would come for a long drive? Hell yeah! Whiskey is always better than beer! Dinner was just lame excuse to meet you, but long drive is way better! I can’t believe this, this all wait and restlessness was worth it! Jane I thought I ruined it, you scared the shit out me, you bike-bent-blonde!’ Zoro was thinking.

“Zoro, hey! Zoro you okay? Reply dude! You there? Anything happened??” came hurried voice of Jane.

‘What is she worried about me now? What can happen to me? I am at home. But Jane is worried about me is something worth celebrating for, so I am going give her a surprise.’ Zoro though.

“Yeah! I am okay, I am home but…….you just asked me o.……hell!! forget that ….10pm at Brook’s”, Zoro heard her sigh, he smiled at himself, ‘looks like she cares!’

“Bye Zoro” Jane said a slight smile on her face. ‘Got me worried over nothing! Stupid Hulk-head!’ She thought smiling at herself.

“Bye Jane” Zoro said smirking.

\----------

**_At 9:30 pm, Zoro’s apartment_ **

Zoro was about to get ready for the long drive as he thought of helmet and Jacket and his winter biking gear, suddenly his door bell dinged. Zoro went and opened the door to find the blonde standing right outside his door and sober this time,

“Hey Zoro! Whassup?” Sanji said casually as if it as perfectly normal for Sanji to visit Zoro in his apartment like that and as if he did it so often.

“Cook? What are you doing he..? I mean, Shit! Anyways come in.” Zoro was shocked seeing Sanji there at his doorstep. In fact they had actually never talked to each other after that incident at Brook’s place where Sanji had tried to ruin his day, they just pretended to act normal around their friends, but they had become far more distant than they already were.

“I brought the left overs for all of us from Baratie, you had dinner yet?” Sanji asked casually as he made his way to the Kitchen.

“Yeah! I had a takeaway from Richie’s!” Zoro said as he went in his bedroom leaving the cook alone.

“You have any wine?” Sanji yelled form Kitchen.

“Nope, beer only.” Zoro yelled from bedroom. This was quiet unusual for them, the whole conversation and the situation was getting awkward for Zoro as he could not figure out why cook was here.

“Hey, Zoro, try to keep some decent wine too!” Sanji yelled as he prepared two dishes for himself and Zoro and took out other food in a bigger bowls and plates, he went over to the Living, settled the things on the table and called Ace. After few seconds, Ace picked up,

“Yeah man?” came Ace’s voice,

“Ace, your apartment is locked, I am at Zoro’s, come fast if you guys want to eat,” Sanji said as he discarded the cigarette filter from his mouth in ash tray.

“In 5 minutes Sanji!” came Ace’s voice.

“Yeah Okay!” with that Sanji hanged up and kept the cellphone on table and started eating,

Zoro put a black Gore-tex pans and gray Jacket above the base layers, he took his black and green colored glows and black neck warmer and went to the Living room, he started looking for his helmet.

“What? Did you say anything cook?” Zoro asked as he put the neck warmer on the couch and looked around for his helmet,

“Hey you going somewhere, I had your plate ready. You are not eating?” Sanji said as he stared at Zoro, Zoro looked amazing, he had a gray Jacket and black pants, his right hand holding glows and left the scratching the back of his head, he looked very handsome, Sanji just kept staring at him till Zoro turned and looked at him, 

“I already told you I had a takeaway! I am going out alright!” Zoro said,

few more seconds of searching and he found his helmet so he smirked at it. Sanji followed Zoro’s gaze and found that Zoro had been looking for his helmet.

‘What the hell he is so happy for, why does he look like a racer? Damn he looks hot like this.’ Sanji thought.

 Zoro was happy that finally found his helmet ‘no need of neck warmer!’ he thought and took the helmet and put it on his table and checked his watch for time, it was 9:45, he smiled slightly at his cellphone as he grabbed it. Sanji cleared his throat as he kept stealing glances at Zoro who was busy typing something in his mobile phone.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize for that day.”

“Really, do then!” mocked Zoro,

“What?...anyways… I mean I am sorry, I tried to ruin you date with the blonde dude which was rare thing in itself!!” Sanji said finally founding the words that he was here for and getting really pissed off at Zoro’s behavior like a teenager checking cellphone like an impatient love stuck puppy, he had noticed Zoro is being doing that for a while, he had been texting a lot which he never did before.

‘Was he serious being in a relationship? Does he really have a boyfriend now? Is that the reason he seems so….. different? Is that why he won’t be home most of the times? I mean had come twice and did not find him here; not that I mind if he dating somebody, It’s just that he does not seem like dating types. I just wanted to say hi and I had actually come to see Luffy and others’ Sanji thought shrugging. Zoro noticed Sanji shrugging for no reason and raised eyebrows as the blonde looked in deep his thoughts.

“Not really, you did not ruin anything and that was not some blonde dude….it was actually Jane!” Zoro said as he typed something in his cell phone.

It took some seconds for Zoro’s words to sink in, Sanji was surprised beyond limits, ‘that guy was Jane? So I did that to her? OMG, what did I do that for, I just wanted to annoy Zoro, I like it when he gets pissed off, I was going to enjoy his reaction when the girl would have had her way with the guy that’s it. Shit! Shit!!!’ Sanji thought.

Zoro’s cell phone beeped again, he smiled at it but his smile faded away and he appeared to be troubled for a second.

“That was her? That skater punk…the blonde guy was her?” Sanji asked in disbelief. Zoro did not see Sanji’s panicking face, he suddenly got up with confused and hurried to bedroom again leaving the cell phone on the table as if he had forgotten to something very important.

“Yeah, it was Jane.” Zoro yelled as he made his way to bedroom and shut the door behind him,

Sanji took Zoro’s cell phone and unlocked the screen,

‘I know I should not but I want to see what is going on!’ he said as he opened the texts. There was just a name JJ which had lot of threads of texts, no other text was there in inbox. Sanji narrowed his eyes on JJ and started reading his texts from down to up.

 _‘5, bt she snt mine, u r gnna love her HH :P, bye nw m driving’_ ‘what is HH? Nickname? Is JJ nickname too?’ Sanji thought,

 _‘really? how many do u hav?’_ ‘what how many? What is Zoro asking about?’

_‘yup, m in parkin, I hv diff bike tday, it’s a surprise :P’_

_‘I m ready boss, u left yet?’_

_‘sure dude, no prblmo :)’_

_‘hey cancel the Brook’s, cn u pk me up frm my place, ya knw d address right?’_

_‘u dnt knw anything yet’_

_‘dnt wry.. nt dat u must be best at evrthing robocop:P’_ ‘Robocop? Is Jane cop, yeah right she works with Law, hell she is his boss’

_‘gud atlst u can cuk, I dnt knw a shit about cookin :P’_

_‘m 2 lazy to cuk fr maself :P_

_‘why doncha cuk den? :P’_

_‘lucky…takeaway sucks smtimes :(’_

_‘yup, ma dad s ma evrythn…, he s jst grt n he cukd ma fav tdy :P’_

_‘u ditched me sm fr spcl dinner today? :P_ ’

Door made creek and Sanji put the phone down in hurry biting his lip and making panicked face, the text thread was still open, Zoro did not notice him, Sanji felt his heartbeat elevated, he was doing wrong he knew but he could not just let go reading all that stuff.

‘Zoro is actually texting? Really? This this JJ is Jane? Is he serious about her? I thought he did not like girls, I thought he was gay, so Zoro is a bi after all’ Sanji thought, he saw Zoro come and making his way to the kitchen. Sanji quickly grab hold of phone and exited the messages application and put the cellphone the way it was put before Zoro went away. Zoro came and sat on the couch in front of Sanji who was seating on chair and he looked kind of dazed out,

‘What is this ero cook here for? I don’t want to doubt my feelings again, his face keeps reminding me that I actually sucked him off many times as and when he asked me too, hell I kept taking his kicks in my gut for so many days for nothing! I was actually such an asshole! Shit! May be I should tell him to go and fuck off, no rather I should tell him what he did to Jane.’

“You know cook, she was the one who found out that it was you who sent that chick to us! She told me or I would have never known, I had my back at the dance floor as it is.’ Zoro said narrowing his eyes on Blondie’s visible eye which went wide as Zoro told that.

‘She did? Oh! She must have thought how much of a bastard I am! the Fuck??’ Sanji thought as he made a pathetic angry face.

“Nope. She does not even remember that by now!” Zoro said as if he knew what Sanji was thinking.

“How you know her that well? I mean you guys have been…….you know…...doing that?” Sanji spat making awkward face as if imagining ‘how disgusting was it for any girl to be with Zoro’.

‘How dare he speak of her like that? Sick Bastard!’ Zoro thought. He did not want to fight Sanji now and ruin his mood. Somehow it’s always been like this, whenever he was to meet Jane, Sanji somehow ruined his mood in one way or another without even knowing what he is doing.

“Why the fuck you care?” Zoro asked annoyed as he closed his eyes.

“What you mean? She is a beautiful lady, I must care about her!” Sanji said quickly, too quickly for Zoro’s liking as if he already knew that this question would arise at some point, Sanji bit his lip as he looked away though Zoro still had closed eyes.

“Don’t know why I even bothered to ask.” Zoro said opening his eyes and he took his cell phone, opened it and started doing something on it.

“Hey! You bringing any date to the beach house?” Sanji asked out of the blue as if to change the topic as he ate his food and he was stealing glances at Zoro to get his expression first hand. He noted Zoro’s eyebrow twitching at the question,

“No, I am not that type of person you know it.” Zoro said without looking up from his cell phone screen.

“Lame as always _Marimo_! You know, I have a beautiful date this time too!” Sanji said in happy and energetic voice. Zoro sighed and dropped his shoulders, suddenly door opened and Ace and Luffy came in, they had bags in their hands,

“What are you here for Sanji?” Zoro asked seriously, he actually said his name, Sanji looked at him in the eye upon hearing his name being called, ‘Zoro only says my name if he is damn angry and serious or he is trying to being intimate with me! What is this feeling in my chest since last few days, like…..I am missing something, some important piece?..... like food is getting wasted somewhere, like I forgot to seasoning for some dish he prepared…… Why I feel as if I am losing something important. His eyes look so angry? Why the hell he is giving me that look? I was just trying to have normal conversation here.’ Sanji thought and looked away, Luffy jumped in and started raiding the food.

“What you mean! I brought you dinner. Have you packed you bags yet?” Sanji asked Zoro trying to sound normal again.

“No, I will in the night! We have till 10:30 in the morning!” Luffy said in energetic voice.

“No idiot, car will be here at our place at 9:30, we have to be ready by then.” Ace said jumping on couch near Zoro and caught Zoro gawking at Jane’s photo in Zoro’s cell phone, Zoro quickly hid the screen away which earned Zoro a questioning glance before Ace started eating from plate that was prepared for Zoro.

\-----

There was a racy roar of engine outside the Zoro’s apartment, Luffy snapped and shot up his head like somebody has switched a button on his brain, still mouth full with delicious meat, he dropped the food in his hand, messily cleaned his hands with the tissue paper within seconds and ran to the door, Ace also got up and so did Zoro. Luffy and Zoro were outside in minutes only to find Jane taking helmet out and her cellphone was in her hands,

“Sana!! Wow! Cool bike!” Came Luffy’s energetic voice.

Jane looked at her kid brother, she got shocked seeing him there but she smiled happily, Luffy went over to her and started talking to her when Zoro came outside the door,

“You guys having dinner Luffy?” She asked as Luffy was gawking at the bike like it was piece of meat,

“Nah! Late night snack! I had dinner at Nami’s” said Luffy as he made happy face while Jane got off and Luffy got on the bike immediately. Ace was still in the doorway and Zoro was standing near Luffy and Jane.

“Wow! She is so cool Jane! I am going for a ride, Ace, Zoro wanna come?” Luffy asked and both said no as they knew that Luffy would not be back for at least 20 to 25 minutes. Jane placed her helmet on Luffy’s head and gave him her glows which did not fit him, he gave the glows back and Zoro tossed him his, Luffy fired the bike up and beamed yelling ‘So good!’ and took off,

“Jane, why don’t ya come in!” Zoro asked as he looked at Jane,

Jane had a black jeans and black bike Jacket, her green bike glows and her night vision glasses tucked in jeans pocket, black bike boots, he smiled at her and she returned his gesture smiling back but a little awkwardly, she again looked back at the corner where Luffy had disappeared,

“Don’t worry, he is gonna be alright, come in!” yelled Ace, Jane looked at him and gave a happy grin,

“I didn’t know you were going to be here!” Ace said as he glanced at Zoro. Zoro looked away and made his way inside as he walk past them,

“You hungry?” asked Ace as Ace took Jane by hand to go seat on couch. Jane simply shook her head saying no and went inside with him, she spotted Sanji who abruptly stood up near couch and Zoro chuckled at cook’s awkwardness.

“Hey!” he said awkwardly greeting Jane.

“Hey! Sanji right?” Jane asked as she went and sat near Zoro, so that she would seat facing Sanji and Ace.

“Yeah! Sanji, the sue chef at _Baratie_!” Sanji said smiling awkwardly,

“Yeah! I remember!” She said in casual tone as she looked at Ace glancing at Sanji suspiciously.

Ace was simply confused at Sanji’s odd behavior, Sanji should have swooned, would have done his noodle dance, said something admiring her beauty and got on one knee and would l have asked her to eat and drink and probably date him or something by now, but he was actually behaving like a gentleman, Ace was confused beyond limits.

“So, you still into bikes and cars?” Ace said so as to change the topic and take the awkwardness out, Zoro looked at her as their cellphones beeped at same time and they exchanged this happy look,

“Hell yeah!” Jane answered Ace grinning at her mobile phone then Jane and Zoro shared a weird high five. That was completely creeping out Ace and Sanji, seeing Zoro getting actually socially active like that. Zoro gave her his cellphone so as to show something, she smiled at it and typed something in his cell phone that Zoro was keenly looking at. Sanji was totally confused at their behavior,

“Ace, how do you survive this cold in those clothes of yours?” Jane said eyes still on the cellphone screen.

“I am so hot, don’t worry!” Ace quickly said as he took chunk of meat and stuffed his face. Ace earned him smack in head from her.

“Ow! That hurt you brat!” He said rubbing his forehead,

She gave Zoro both their cell phones and took collar of Ace’s open buttoned shirt in her hands, pulled him up awkwardly from his chair and brought his face closer to show her annoyed face and head butted him, Ace fell on the chair,

“Who are you calling brat you pervert!” she said still keeping her angry face as she kept her hands on her hips.

“Pervert? Where the hell did that come from?” Ace yelled as he sat up rubbing his head,

“You know why Law took me to Brook’s to meet you guys in the first place? Well? I know why! He wanted to hook me up with you, he thought you were my type! I mean the hell! Are you sleeping around Ace?” Ace face palmed as he cursed Law for telling Jane what Law had planned with Ace but at that time he did not know Jane was actually the same girl as his sister Sana, he just knew that she had heartbreak.

“What?” a worried exclaim came from Zoro and Sanji, Zoro looked back and forth between Jane and Ace.

“Hey! Law did not know that I am your brother, okay?” Ace said as he shielded himself against Jane’s punch and threw a punch at her which she blocked with her leg, Zoro had started laughing while Ace continued,

“And I said yes because he said the girl is superhot and not like typical shopping and dating girl so I thought it might be fun! And I don’t sleep around I just enjoy okay! I am not like Sanji!” Ace yelled, he had got punched in guts, but Zoro’s laugh stopped all of a sudden hearing Sanji’s name,

“Hey!” now this was Sanji who snapped at Ace, he stood up to kick Ace but.

“Stop it all of you!” Zoro yelled as he came to stand in front of Jane and thus had to take her punch on his shoulder which made him cringe in pain and Ace's punch in his back as he had his back at Ace, Zoro took her hands in his own and made her sit down.

Ace and Sanji settled down in their seats too,

\-----

“Jane, just let it go okay!” Ace said,

“Yeah! I was just........look Ace, you are my brother, I just wanted to say that please don’t hurt girls’ feeling like that, if they want it short lived or one night stand or whatever it’s okay but what if girl is really in love with you!” Jane said as she avoided looking into Ace’s eyes, she did not want him to see her sadness in her eyes, Ace was best at guessing her feelings,

“Oh! I never squirm in that territory dear! It’s always a drink or dance or dinner, nothing physical! It was just once, very romantic and intimate, I loved her but she married to another man, since then it’s always been like this and everybody knows.” Ace said in carefree manner as if heartbreak is nothing, he was as laid-back and carefree like Shanks, Shanks would really have said the same thing, he used to laugh it off as if it was nothing and he was okay with the pain when Mihawk had got married, he reminded Jane very much of Shanks, talking about saddest things while having a smile like that,

“Ace…you……..” Jane’s face saddened, she looked so apologetic.

“Hey! It’s cool, I have made pace with the idea, so I am going to enjoy till I find true love! Big deal?” Ace said as he rubbed his stomach where he had received punch from Jane.

“Yeah! At least he is better than Luffy!” Zoro said as he handed over their beeping cell phones to her.

“What you mean Zoro?” Jane asked looking at Zoro,

“Luffy is totally blind! I mean there two women, in love with him, who would even die for him but he only loves bikes and cars and of course meat!”  Sanji said in pained voice while Zoro snorted.

“Oh! He is too innocent! I wish I would be like him!” Jane’s voice had a slight silver of sadness in it, suddenly she felt different….it all had started coming back again, her breathing suddenly became heavy…….

_‘Don’t play blind! Why must you keep ignoring! Can’t you see that I am in love with you Jane. Just tell me what should I do to make you believe that I love you?’ Lucci said in his deep baritone voice, he had Jane pinned down to wall in library of the collage they went together, her both hands held by his larger hands against the wall, her face blank and confused…._

 Zoro scooted nearer to Jane, placed an arm around her and bent a little down so as to catch her falling cellphone in his hand while his phone got dropped down from her hand, Ace and Sanji saw at Jane’s face bewildered. Zoro’s actions brought Jane back from the memory, she had noticed she was being a freak, she blinked as she looked at Zoro,

“Jane?” Zoro said worried as he shook her form a little,

“Sorry! I need a moment, alone!” She quickly stood up, gestured Ace and Zoro not to follow her. She made her way out of the house, her breathing was heavy, she felt her heartbeat elevated, she felt herself sweating even in that cold, she went out and stood with her back leaned against the wall and rested her head on wall bending backwards and closed her eyes as she placed her palms on the wall behind her, trying to contain her sorrow, trying to get her breathing in control,

_He was bent a little he had his head over her shoulder and his face in crook of her neck, his warm breath against her skin, warm air flowing  inside her shirt from the collars, sending shivers down her spine as he spoke. They stood on a bridge over a river in the park, Jane had her bandaged arms and hands on railing of the bridge, with her left hand protectively covered with his larger hand form her left side. She had a bandage on her head too, she was injured while she had a fight with group of mafias. The way he stood, Lucci practically had wrapped his body around her frame, as if to shield her from outside world,_

_“I will do whatever it takes. I am ready to die for you, am even ready to kill for you! Just tell me baby, what shall I do to make you stay with me? Move in with me Jane, I can’t see you getting injured like this” Lucci whispered in irritated tone as he tightened his right arm around her waist as he stood behind her._

_“I can’t Lucci! Don’t make it sound like I am leaving you or something, you know that I love you too, I want to be with you too. But I am supposed to work for this super- secret agency and it’s really risky, I am gonna work like a cop, so injuries and my job would walk hand in hand and I should not be sharing any details but I can’t move in with you. Actually I also can’t stay at your place every day!” She said in defeated voice as she leaned into his well build torso for more warmth._

_“What if I marry you?” he said in husky voice._

_She did not reply but he had felt her muscles twitch, Lucci pulled out from her neck and loosened the grip and made her turn so as to face him. She had unreadable expressions on her face, Lucci looked in her blue eyes keenly, if Jane didn’t know better he was not angry but was worried by her silence, he just did not know how to express delicate sentiments. Anybody else would have run with their tail between their legs if Lucci had that intense look in his face but Jane was special for Lucci, only she understood his body language perfectly,_

_He took her face in his hands and closed his lips on hers; he sucked on her lips a little then started nibbling the lower lip. She did not even respond to kiss, he was having her bottom lip between his own lips, but as he felt Jane totally frozen, not responding at all, he pulled out. He sneaked an arm around her waist, lifting up a bit and caressed her face with his other hand as he started talking,_

_“Hey! Babe? are you mad at me? Look, I just want you to be safe, what is wrong in that? And we are together since one and half years, I think it’s about time, so it’s only obvious for me to ask you to marry me.” he bent down again to touch her lips with his own,_

_“I already have a really good job and I can provide for us, you don’t need to get injured like this. I know you are strong and you are brave but baby I need you too you know! So I am ready to meet your parents, I want to marry you!” he said against her lips,_

_“Did you just propose me? Was that you proposing me for marriage?” Jane asked even when he was kissing her._

_“Yes! What else was that?” Lucci smirked against her lips as his fingers slid little back and his thumbs caressed her slightly pink cheeks from both sides, she narrowed her eyes on his face,_

_“You idiot, that’s gotta be lamest and most unromantic proposal anybody ever has got!” she said pushing her smirking boyfriend back a little. He left her face and put his hands around her waist as he snorted at her antics,_

_“Jane, how can you say it like that, I was kissing you when I proposed you, so how was it in any way unromantic?” Lucci asked smirking._

_“I hate you!” she said as she hid her face in his chest blushing even redder._

_“Is that a blush?” Lucci asked earning a playful punch on chest._

_“So, was that a yes Jane?” Lucci asked quickly._

_“No Lucci, no, I can’t. I cant't! Holy shit! you just had to surprise me hun!  Wow! You asked me for marriage!  Oh Man! I  want to…I just……….Baby trust me I so much want to…. but I can’t. [sigh] I will talk to my parents about it! But right now I simply can’t marry you, I am so sorry, I really am! My god! I am so happy but I am so sad! Shit!” Jane said as she hugged him placing her hands around his torso._

_“Hey! It’s okay! Calm down!”_

_“I don’t know why my brother hates you so much! He won’t let me!” Jane said sighing as his hands soothed her excited mind,_

_“I thought so. I am going to have to kidnap you one day!” Lucci said  voice laced with amusement as run his hand through her hair._

_“Good luck with that Romeo!” Jane chided as she looked up and gave a smirk._

_“Hey, I told you to stop calling me that! I only love you! Just you.” Lucci said in irritated voice._

_“Yeah! But what about all those fan girls you have, they keep giving me death glares you know, one day one of them is going to kill me!” Jane said fake panicking and taking her own hands to her own throat. He took her bandaged hands in his own and kissed them before placing them on his chest. He then gently brushed some strands of her long blond hair off her face,_

_“Don’t worry! They are nothing to me! I can’t stop them fancying me but I won’t let anybody harm you in any condition. You are mine and I am yours forever so stop calling me that!” He said in irritated tone then closed eyes with furrowed brows._

_“Aww! I was just kidding baby!” She said as she grabbed his hands and motioned him to follow her…._

Jane felt a something touching her shoulder, she opened her eyes and turned her head to find Zoro looking back at her, her breathing was really very heavy and her forehead was covered with sweat, she blinked a few times and  looked at him,

‘Fuck! What’s been she thinking? She is sweating like she saw a ghost or vampire or something! What just happened back there? Is she okay?’ Zoro thought looking at her sweaty temple,.

“You okay captain?” he asked in deep but worried voice, he sounded like Mihawk Jane thought,

“Yeah!” she said as she wiped her forehead with back of her hand,

“Umm…….., you are getting this call since three minutes, it must be important, you wanna take it?” Zoro handed her phone to her. She looked at cell phone, it was Shanks, she picked up it quickly,

“Yeah dad?” with that Zoro was about to leave when she grabbed his hand and he turned his head to look at her, she mouthed ‘thanks’, Jane had always felt amazed that Shanks always called when Jane needed, she felt relaxed suddenly and her breathing started getting back to normal. She immediately got engrossed in call hearing Shanks' voice but did not leave grip on Zoro’s hand, Zoro smiled watching her hand over his which she did not notice as she was looking down and talking to Shanks, 

 -----

“Hey! You alright?” came Shanks worried voice.

“I am now! How did you know!” she asked in low voice.

“Telepathy honey! We are connected remember? By the way, you still good to go for a biking? You remember the VFR800!” came his worried question.

“Yeah! But Biking clears my head so I guess I should go.” She said calmly closing her eyes,

“Okay! Be careful sweetheart!” he said,

“Bye dad!” said Jane smiling as at his worried voice as she hanged up. She opened her eyes and looked at Zoro and then at their hands, she had been holding his hand the whole time, she awkwardly said sorry and let go of his hand.

“Luffy is not back yet!” she asked in an uneasy voice,

“Nah! I knew it! He enjoys bike way too much and you practically brought him a treat!” Zoro said as he chuckled and got comfy near her as he put his foot on the wall behind him and leaned to rest his back against wall.

“I am sorry about your cellphone! You saved mine though!” Jane said glancing at him,

“Nah! It’s okay, that thing is still working fine. Mine is not high-tech as yours!” He said shrugging but kept staring at her face, she felt awkward at his staring but she too took glances at him, 

There was sound of engine and they both took their eyes of each other, they noticed that Luffy had come back with very toothy grin plastered on his face. He got off the bike and came running to where they were standing. He seemed so happy, his smile was contagious, she ruffled his messy black hair and watching him smile like that Jane also smiled like she was the happiest person in the world.

“Sana, that is very awesome bike! I want it!” Luffy said like child asking for a new toy.

“Luffy that bike is not mine to give away but I will buy you one, whichever you want, you tell me, after we are back in grand line, I will buy you one.”

“You promise?” Luffy asked happily.

“Yes, I promise!” Jane said as he handed over the keys to Jane and gave back her helmet.

“Luffy aren’t you cold?” Sanji asked, unknown to Jane and Zoro he had made his way to the door and stood a step away from doorway as he continued smoking and listening the conversation between Jane and Zoro, or more like eavesdropping,

“hun?” Luffy asked innocently as if he did not know what cold actually is!

“You know COLD?” Sanji asked closing his eye or may be eyes, as he let out smoke and smirked at Luffy who had suddenly realized that it was December and it was extremely chilly out there.

“Holy crap, my legs are freezing! I am hungry, I am cold, am hungry, am cold, hungry, cold, hungry, cold, hungry, cold, hungry, cold!” Luffy was rambling and rambling dancing up and down on his feet,

“Hey! Get inside you idiot! On second thought let’s go home, anyways we have to pack our stuff!” Ace scolded while he started taking bags in hands, looking for keys of his apartment and Luffy grabbed Jane’s hand and made her come inside Zoro’s apartment once more.

“Stay with us tonight!” Luffy said looking at Jane as he started eating again.

“Wash your filthy hands before eating, you moron!” Sanji yelled from where he stood just turning back on his heels,

“Nope, I need to pack too you know!” Jane answered Luffy as she chuckled at him.

“Too bad I would have asked you for bedtime stories or sing me to sleep!” Luffy said making sad face.

“Luffy grow up!” Sanji yelled again,

“Nah! That won’t be fun! I will stay some other day Luffy! But right now, I need to go!” Jane said as Luffy nodded,

“Ace, Luffy……umm…..Sanji, I will see you all tomorrow!” Jane said as she was making her way out,

“Wait! Isn’t Zoro going come tomorrow?” Sanji said pointing his cigarette to Zoro,

“Yes he is! I am leaving with him right now but he will be back within…..um…let us say an hour or so!” Jane said as she checked her watch.

“I wanna come too!” Luffy said smiling, Zoro’s eyes went wide for a second which was noticed by Sanji,

“If you have bike, you can Luffy!” Jane said smiling; Zoro narrowed his eyes on Luffy,

“He has bike but he is not going anywhere, we have a lot of work to do little brother! Now get your ass back home in 10 minutes!” Ace said as he got up and started walking Jane out, Luffy sighed and continued eating as if to finish every single piece of meat he could find, Sanji was staring at Zoro’s face for reactions, Ace and Jane walked past them, Zoro was near the doorway and Sanji was just two steps away from him,

“Luffy, Cook, whoever leaves the last, lock the door and give keys to Ace okay!” Zoro said,

“Wow, you have like late night date or something, or long drive may be?” Sanji said in low voice, just for Zoro to hear,

“What if I have, what is it to you? Don’t consider Jane like the bitches you keep dating Ero-cook! And look she is important to me and don’t you dare to say anything pervy about us you understand that!” Zoro said angrily as he narrowed his eyes on cook and turned a little to face him,

“Gee! What about us? That you like to suck my dick! Huh! Who do you think you are? And why would I want anybody know that I am somehow got in those situations with you, why would I care if you do anything with anybody” Sanji spat giving him disgusted face and walked past him, Zoro grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him against the door,

“By ‘us’ I meant me and Jane you shitty dart brow! I meant ,don’t you dare to say anything wrong and pervy about us two. But No, you would never think anything good, your head is rotten! Now get the hell off my face!” Zoro yelled as he looked deep into that blue eye with pain in his own.

“Damn shitty Swordsman! Guess what? Fuck you too, I don’t care who fucks you Moss head!” Sanji yelled as he slammed his foot on Zoro’s leg to make him cringe in pain but within seconds Zoro stood up to attack the blond as the cook too had his foot up for the second kick,

“Hey Zoro, Sanji, don’t fight!” Luffy said in serious voice as he adjusted his straw hat on his head, stood close to them as he put his hand on Zoro’s shoulders and they never knew when Luffy had made it to them,

“Tsk!” exclaimed Sanji left without sparing them a glance,

\--------

Meanwhile Ace and Jane were having their small talk,

“Jane, you okay! You actually had me worried back there! What had happened all of sudden?” Ace asked.

“Nothing, I was just…… remembering something!”

“I can tell how it hurts……to have a broken heart too or broken trust but that was not good! You sure you are going to be okay?”

“Yeh! Ace, actually that is the reason I don’t wanna come. When I am working my mind is busy, I don’t get any time to mourn but when I am like this, there is too much space to think and …[sigh]…well let it go, I have to face it one way or another. Ace, please just don’t tell anybody! I don’t want all having their pairs of eyes full with pity gawking at me all the time and hell I don’t want to be the center of attraction, I already am a new member in your crew that is enough to handle for now!” Jane said making funny faces so that Ace would believe that she was okay and there was no need to worry.

“Ok, you are the boss! Be careful okay!” said Ace smiling at her.

“But No, you would never think anything good, your head is rotten! Now get off my face!” that was Zoro’s yell which made Ace and Jane to look at the fighting duo, Jane tried to run to them but Ace stopped her,

“Don’t worry, they are always like that! It’s totally normal and Luffy is there, he’s got this!” Ace said, Jane was gaping at both of their angry faces, they looked ready to murder each other, she did know that they particularly did not seem to like each other but this was insane!!

\--------

After Sanji left; Ace and Luffy bid their good byes to Jane and went away, Zoro had gone inside leaving the boys and their sister to talk, after few minutes of talk Ace and Luffy had left for their apartment near Zoro’s.

Jane went inside and locked the door behind her, she searched for Zoro, his place was so different from her Condo and Lucci’s penthouse for that matter. It was a humble one bedroom apartment.

Living room was calm and there was nobody in the kitchen, she found a bedroom door slightly opened, she knocked but reply didn’t come,

“I am coming in Zoro!” she yelled and made her way in,

Zoro was seated on his bed, his face was unreadable, he had his elbows on his knees and he had his head in his hands, Jane went over and sat beside him,

“Hey! You alright?” Jane asked awkwardly, she was not good at this sort of thing; she had only got sentimental either with Shanks or Lucci,

The place was not luxurious or sophisticated, there were no high tech panels and devices, no elegant furniture and no ceiling to floor glass windows and all but place was modest……….comfortable, simple and homely. There was simple queen size bed and a small wardrobe, she spotted an empty backpack on the table, a simple night stand and a laptop was there placed on bed, a shirt was lying on bed unfolded, bathroom door was open slightly, room kind of smelled like Zoro or like his cologne, there was a photo frame on the shelf, photo had _chibi_ Zoro and a raven haired little girl and an older, kind looking man with round glasses, the shelf had many books, there was a separate shelf which had some music and some more photo frames, Jane felt that she was invading his personal space,

“Jane, I am sorry you had to see all that!” Zoro said not changing his position neither looking at her,

“Well, it happens sometimes, so, don’t worry. So you too didn’t pack yet hun! I also have my bags open and empty in front of the wardrobe. You know what? I actually should not be in here! I will wait outside.” she said as she got up and turned quickly and started to leave,

“Wait! Jane!” Zoro stood up and quickly grabbed her wrist, her eyes went wide by his sudden possessive grip but she did not turn back,

“Oh! I didn’t mean to……….” he quickly released her hand,

“Jane, I just, I don’t know what to say. He really gets on my nerves. Every time I try to do something nice he would ruin the scene! Every fucking time! I never figured that out, why everything has to end in a fight!” Zoro said but Jane still did not turn back to face Zoro.

“C’mon, let us go biking! It helps me, hope it will help you too!” Jane said as she glanced over her shoulders at him and smiled as made her way out of his room, Zoro followed her out and they went outside, Zoro locked apartment and saw her firing the bike up.

\----------

“This is not yours?” Zoro asked as he put on helmet

“Nah! Belongs to a friend, it’s a bit old and Ugly but definitely winter friendly!” Jane said as she adjusted her helmet,

“Oh! She looks just fine, I wonder why you said ugly!” Zoro said as he got on and they took off.

“You seen ma baby didn’t you Zoro, I like bikes like that! She is real beauty!” Jane said bending a little backward,

“Yeah! That Agusta of yours is a very beautiful bike, I will give them that but Suzuki V -Storm is also cool!”

“Nah! A bit heavy for my liking but I had to take the MV slow last time, you know, she did not do that well, but this beastie is hell lot better for climates like this, you will feel the difference” said Jane admiring the Storm,

“Yeah? I thought you were pulling over like that last time we went with the MV! Now I can tell that you know what you are doing!”

“Things is Zoro, we can’t pull over like that. It actually makes the tires go cold in seconds and then it would have given us hell coming back! Hope it does not start snowing or we are stuck there in mountain, we are going for real long ride Zoro, hope you enjoy!”

“You bet! Hey, mind if I drive on way back?”

“No, I don’t mind as long as you follow my rules!”

“And those are?”

“I will tell ya when time comes!”   

“Okay boss! Let’s get the show on the road!”

\--------

**_After they reached the mountain top,_ **

Jane and Zoro were seated on bike as if it were a bench, both looking at the small dots and blinking lights far away in city area, the calm and cold starry night was mesmerizing, the lake looked so small from up here, lake water was sparkling with moonlight creating beautiful pattern of light rays over it, they were having potato chips and beer, they had a little bonfire to keep their hands warm, it was making crackling sound,

“I take it that you like mountains and night sky very much! But that drive was crazy!” Zoro said as he took a large gulp,

“Nope!” Jane said emphasizing ‘p’ as she chuckled,

“Why? What happened?” Zoro asked looking at her and playfully hit her shoulder with his own,

“I used to do lot of racing and stuff, I was really crazy when it came to bikes, I like long roads and lonely drives but I was very cocky back then. I screwed up really bad one time! So frigging silly, it’s miracle that got out of it alive!” said Jane,

“How bad?” she shook her head and mouthed ‘real bad’, he smirked at her,

“You tell me this I will tell you how I messed up once when I was just a kid, it’s actually fucking embarrassing!” said Zoro trying to make her tell her story,

“You sure?”  asked Jane,

He nodded, “Yeah I am, come, let’s seat over there!” said Zoro pointing to bonfire, placing hand on small of her back, they got off the bike and went to sit near the warmth, relaxing on ground they placed pair of bottles and packets of chips in front of them, there was a big rock nearby they leaned on it, resting backs against it,

“So, Robocop, speak up!” said Zoro as he got comfy near her,

“So, this one time, I was in north blue with my brother and Shanks, I don’t know what I was thinking, I was mad at brother as we had a fight before and wanted a long good drive to clear ma head but instead of trucking a track bike there I chose a long distance sport tourer, Honda VFR800.” She said stopped to take a seep from her bottle,

“VFR800! It’s old school but it’s good! Why did you chose that, could have gotten the storm back then” asked Zoro,

“That’s the thing Zoro, I did not know!” she gulped beer and opened another bag of chips,

“You don’t have any prosthetic limb, do you?” Zoro said as he leaned into her side, she looked at him giving him a devilish smirk which Zoro had come to love about her.

“Oh! Any guess Sherlock?” Jane said as she supported his heavy frame but locked her arm at elbow robotically, he snorted and shook his head at her antics,

“So, north blue?” he asked snorting and taking his weight off of hers,

“Yeah! Trip to the northest of that stupid cold country was without any problem, I also had nice snack and beer when I reached there, I mean I knew that I had to keep myself hydrated and all, I enjoyed all the 700 miles way too much. When I started journey back home rather the hotel we stayed at, Man! The devil of snowy cold winter started creeping up my spine.” She took another gulp,

“700? Wasn’t that too much!” asked Zoro. He had not been drinking at all but keenly listening to her,

“Man that was such a rush! But on way back is another story!”

“Why? You did not meet an accident did you?”

“Nope, but it gets better! About 150 miles away from the hotel where I was supposed to reach, heavy winds began and then it suddenly started snowing. I had a nice winter gear but I had no proper base layers on and man, my own sweat went cold as hell, as wind increased fingertips went icy, I thought they were getting mixed with bike metal. Hell, I almost thought I was going to lose my fingers.” She said as she moved her fingers looking at her palm.

“Holy shit!” Zoro exclaimed with wide eyes, Jane snorted at the memories before she continued,

“Seriously! I ended up in a bathroom of some creepy motel for two hours, helplessly trying to heat my body, especially my fingers but no veil. I had to continue with snow falling with absolutely no feelings in my fingers for an hour and half to reach home. I still wonder sometimes how those mighty 60 plus mph winds didn’t launch me off the highway! I made it home somehow and after a hot bath and some rum I finally sensed my fingers.”

“Dude, you crazy!” Zoro was speechless, he almost felt what she might have felt as he had experienced the cold and locked knees last time they had a log drive, Jane continued in amused voice, and smiling face,

“I really did number on bike though, after that incident I actually collected info about these winter motor biking things and how to ride with safety! What we did last time that was also risky but I knew what to feel and what to do in these anti-motor biking conditions!”

“Okay, was that why you had suddenly dropped the speed last time?” Zoro said finally started seeping his beer,

“Yup! And I knew your knees were locked, you are fine now, aren’t ya?” Jane asked looking at his face,

“Yeah! I am. Man!  Beer tastes so damn good here!” Zoro said in relaxed voice as he gave a sigh of contentment.

They chuckled and opened another pair of bottles,

“You know, I did not do this kind of stuff but I was crazy too! In this orphanage I was in, we had to sell cookies, make handmade items to sell and things. They also sent us to school but I was interested only in swords. I did not listen to anyone you see and I hell as sure was not going to sell any frigging cookies for them. I used to wander around and ask people to fight me. I earned a real metal sword like that but I messed up bad. One day I got lost and ended up in forest. The people travelling from one village to another helped me to next village.”

“So, it’s in your blood! Getting lost!” Jane chided,

“Hey! That’s not quite the thing I am talking about!” Zoro said narrowing his eyes on her, she gave playful smirk and he shook his head at her when she gave him a childish pout,

“Okay Tiger! My bad! What happened then? How did you get back?” asked Jane excitedly,

“I did not.”

“You didn’t?” Jane exclaimed in disbelief,

“Nope, never! I found a Dojo, I went there and I challenged the Dojo owner!”

“Wait! What? The master directly? How old were you?” Jane said as she turned to him and folded her legs to sit in front of him,

“Seven! I won you know! I was so happy with myself, instead of staying there I went to find another Dojo. I did the same there. But the owner smiled kindly and asked what I wanted if I won. I said that I would take away his Dojo, and if I lost I would become his pupil.”

“Then?” asked Jane as she put her face in her hand and widened her eyes,

“Well, he did not fight me by himself but he asked his daughter to fight me! She was elder than me and she was well trained. I was so mad at him for making me fight a girl but I lost in three strikes!”

“Really?” Jane’s gave ‘what the hell’ face. Zoro have her mock hurt look,

“She was awesome, I really had got embarrassed at the fact that girl had beat the shit out of me without breaking any sweat! I had to become his pupil. I never got to defeat that girl! Ever! When I thought that I had got strong enough, she always was stronger. Till last fight she defeated me with ease!” Zoro said Shrugging.

“Wow! I need to meet her! Hey you did tell me that you will help me with Swords!”

“Yep, I want to! It’s just that you don’t find any time for me!” said Zoro looking at her smirking, she smiled awkwardly and looked away to hide her blush,   

\--------

After half hour of chatting and beer time they started journey back home, Zoro drove and she gave him directions. They reached Zoro’s place, Jane got off the bike, so did Zoro,

“You wanna come in!” Zoro asked quickly.

“I should get going actually!”

“Okay! And I should be packing! I hate packing!” Zoro said as he dropped his shoulders,

“Me too! But I have Super-fantastic dad, I know my stuff would be packed and ready when I will reach home! Yahuu!” Jane said happily raising her hands in air,

“Really?” Zoro asked with disbelief.

“Yup! I never in my life once packed bag for myself!” Jane said as she tapped her finger on her chin, that made Zoro laugh. "Umm, may be just when i was already away from home I did!"

“Seriously? That’s amazing! I have to meet this guy!” Zoro said,

“One day Zoro! If you are lucky enough!” she said sticking a tongue out at him,

“Okay, so you switch into this ‘child mode’ when anybody mentions your dad, that’s really interesting Robocop!” Zoro said giving her amused look and raising hands and twisting his first fingers as he said ‘child mode’ trying to make quote gesture,

“You bet!” she said getting on bike,

“You said your stuff would be packed and ready, you really have to go? I am having such a good time! Come, help me pack.” Zoro said as he smirked,

“Gee! Thanks for compliment! I don’t pack my own stuff what makes you think you can make me pack yours Sherlock?”

“Wait and you call me Sherlock? Got me there, didn't ya?”Zoro said and he snorted her playful smirk,

“No, i didn't actually. Anyways, see ya tomorrow Zoro!” Jane said a smile plastered on her face as she fired up the engine,

“Bye Jane! Seeya!” Zoro said, smiling himself at her smiling face.

“Bye!” She yelled as took off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have taken reference from various websites and reviews of people for winter biking. That experience is not mine to write. The one when Jane got her hands freezed while driving in cold weather just inserted it in story.


	8. A step further towards you!

 

A beautiful, shiny black limousine pulled over in front a building, Ace got out from the car and dialed Sanji’s number, Sanji picked up his call instantly as if he is been waiting for Ace to call him,

“Ace you left yet?” Sanji asked,

“Man, you ready? I am right outside, come out fast!” Ace said,

“Oh! Right away!” Sanji exclaimed and hanged up excitedly as he took his wheeled backpack and yelled from where he was standing near the door, his hand on door knob when he was about to leave the house,

“Old man, I am leaving! Hope you can manage at the restaurant without me for 2 weeks!” taunted Sanji,

“Who the hell you think you are talking to, you damned eggplant!” yelled the Head chef of Baratie, Sanji’s father, Mr. Zeff came out of his room from upstairs as he scolded his son.

“Tsk! Just said take care old man! Bye!”

“Don’t get your bratty little butt in any problem out there, enjoy with your friends Sanji!” he said as he disappeared from Sanji’s view,

“Tsk!” Sanji left the apartment with that and shut the door behind him, he went down in an elevator and finally outside the building,

Ace was standing outside the beautiful limo, waiting for Sanji to arrive, Sanji hurried to him, a man with white coat took his luggage and put it in proper place,

“Wow! She sent a limo…that’s so cool! She is all about class hun!”

“Yeah! We have to go to Cohza’s place and then we are off for the final destination!” Ace said as he texted Cohza that they were leaving from Sanji’s place and Sanji opened the door and got inside, Luffy, Zoro, Bonny, Tashigi were already inside the car and Sanji and Ace also got seated and they left for Cohza’s place, Sanji greeted the ladies and glared at Zoro which was totally ignored by Zoro as he simply did not look at the blond cook,

Luffy was playing some game on his PSP, Bonny and Tashigi were giggling and gossiping about something, Zoro was busy doing something on his cell phone which he usually was these days and that annoyed the hell out of cook for reason unknown to himself,

“Sanji, what about Viola?” Ace asked,

“Oh! She cannot make it! But I got Porche to come!!” Sanji said excitedly,

“Hey! I thought she was with that brunet guy..…whatever….you remember she had ditched you that day, I mean your date got ruined!” Ace whispered in Sanji’s ears,

“Yeah! But I met her at the coffee shop the other day, she said that she was not thinking clearly that day, she was drunk, she didn’t want to leave me there but had some problem but it all worked out now, she is mine, at least for these two weeks!” Sanji winked at Ace as he whispered back. Ace snorted and shook his head.

After a drive of 20 minutes they reached Cohza’s place and Cohza and Vivi joined in, they greeted all their friends and they left for airport,

“So, which airport we are going to?” Sanji asked,

“Oh! We are not, we would be traveling by a private plane!” Vivi said as she smiled sweetly,

“Private plane?” Tashigi asked excitedly with raised eyebrows. Everyone was surprised except for Zoro as he already knew that.

“Yes, apparently Jane owns three Private planes and we, the secret service agents, are not supposed to be travelling the regular planes as regular citizens if not under cover, so it seemed as a good idea!” Vivi said warily as she knew that was too much for her friends take, it’s almost was overwhelming as they all had actually felt the Vivi’s place too majestic to be real she knew how they would react to the ‘Jane Hawkeye’ ways of doing things.

“Three Private planes?” Ace, Luffy, Sanji and Bonny exclaimed all in unison,

“Un…...yes guys! She is little richer for us all but keep it cool guys!” Vivi said in vice laced with little uneasiness,

\----------

Their car pulled over an area which nobody knew about, the runway and aircraft hangar was there but nothing else that connected that place to the city part, nobody knew such a place even existed, of course they could not see the route as the car windows had got blackened with shutters as soon as they had left Cohza’s place so they did not get see which way they travelled to reach there. They got out to find two planes outside the hangar and one larger was still inside, some people with yellow wests were there around the plane and rushing in and out of the plane, some guys had black suits and professional attire,

A second black limousine pulled over; Nami, Porche, Perona, Marguerite, Boa Hancock, Chopper, Marco, Brook got out from the second car, the group got together talking and admiring the planes stood in front of them while their luggage was being taken to one of the plane. Nami and Perona had opted for the short skirts and small reveling tops, Vivi had jeans and long knee length over coat which hid her top, Porche had a gray elegant Jumpsuit on with open jacket, Bonny had a white jumpsuit with flowery print on it and had a weird hat on and a muffler around her neck, Marguerite wore jeans and t-shirt with a pink overcoat where as Tashigi’s outfit was similar but she had a white T-shirt on black jeans and baby pink overcoat, Boa Hancock had a beautiful purple dress, with a white girly jacket and she looked so amazing, all people were stealing glances at her.

Sanji and brook had the tailored suits as always, Cohza also had a button up shirt and blue suit, Ace and Luffy had their usual outfits just that Ace had buttoned his shirt up this time and Zoro had white T-shirt and black jeans, black boots and the dark green full length over coat that had a reddish belt on waist and the upper part of his coat was left open to show his muscular chest covered in tight white T-shirt, he looked handsome, Sanji could not help but steal glances of Zoro even with his hand still around Porche’s waist.

Within 5 minutes a black SUV pulled over the area, Law, Kaya, Usopp and Jane were getting out when all the people from the group noticed them, Law had black full length over coat and his white furry hat with animal print on it, Kaya has yellow colored dress and brown jacket, Usopp had blue jeans and black T-shirt with an unzipped hoodie, Jane had a sharp looking and well fitted gray suit with white shirt and mid night blue tie, she actually looked like a perfect beautiful curvy girl, she came out of the door when Luffy ran towards his sister excitedly, Jane saw him coming and braced herself for his mighty bear hug and he did exactly what she had expected,

“Sana, you got plane! That so cool!” Luffy said with huge smile,

“You are going to enjoy Luffy, I promise! We will go on boating to, you like speedboats ne?” Jane asked as she ruffled his messy hair,

“Yahuu! Let’s go!” Luffy yelled as he left his sandals and climbed on her shoulders and sat like a kid placing his head on hers. She balanced her kid brother’s weight easily and moved a little so for Shank’s to come out from car, Luffy was so engrossed looking at plane and throwing his arms in air, getting excited for the journey that he did not notice Shank’s standing near Jane,

“Luffy!” Shank’s said in calm tone as he leaned back on car, resting his back against it as he folded his hands over his chest.

Luffy got awestruck looking at Shanks, the red head was Luffy’s hero, Luffy owned him his life, the straw hat he kept with him all the time was actually Shank’s hat, Luffy was so speechless, the Mugiwara’s and other of the friends suddenly looked at Luffy and Jane as Luffy went too silent all too suddenly and his yelling stopped all of sudden giving place feel of adultness, like time had stopped everybody was staring at Luffy and Jane and the unknown red haired man standing in front of them, Jane and Shanks were smiling slightly but did not say a word nor did anybody from the group but they observed keenly what was happening thinking what had happened to Luffy all of a sudden.

Luffy gave a visible shudder which was felt by Jane too, he blinked violently as if to make sure that it was really Shanks standing in front of him, Ace came running to Jane and Luffy, he also stared at the red head,

“Shanks? You are the read haired Shanks! Aren’t you?” Ace whispered yelled.

“Yup that’s me all right!” Shanks said smiling. Luffy got off Jane’s shoulders and poked Shanks in chest,

“Shanks? You are real! It’s really you?” Luffy said with mesmerized face,

“Yes! I see, you still have my Straw hat! It seems you are taking good care of it! I am happy to see you Luffy!” Shanks said as he took the straw hat from Luffy and looked at the treasured hat with nostalgic face, his expressions remaining calm and happy,

“I told you I will make it to the grand line!” Luffy said as he had his toothy grin back, Jane threw an arm over the shorter kid, Luffy looked at her with happy face and glassy eyes,

“Sana, Shanks had saved me that day! I would have been dead now” chirped Luffy beaming at Jane,

“Yes, I know Luffy. You know, he saved me too! But he also had a help, mine was not a case of an accident you see. But Shanks is been my dad ever since, he took care of me for all these years and made me stronger, so we have my hero here too, he gave me everything, he taught me everything I know! We have to share a little bit!” Jane said as she winked at him,

Shanks put the hat on Luffy’s head but Luffy had a serious face now, his eyes held an unknown expression, he was frozen on the spot after hearing what Jane had said,

“ _Akagami_  , I cannot thank you enough sir, but still I would like to express my gratitude and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my kid brother and sister from their horrible fates; I would always be in your debt!” Ace said sincerely in very deep voice as he formally bowed in front of Shanks,

“I see, you are his brother Ace right! Let me tell you, I did what anybody in their right mind would have done, saving Luffy was one of the best decisions I made and as for Jane, I would like to say that I cannot accept your thanks as she actually is my daughter and she had been treating me as her own since she was 10 so I have become quite attached to her.” Shanks said in clam deep voice, Jane held a smile for him,

“Oh! That’s great. No doubt she is that strong.” Ace said as he looked at his kid sister and kid brother who was giving Jane glare,

“Luffy?” scolded Ace,

“Hey Luffy? What is going on?” Jane asked as she was trying to figure out what made Luffy flip out like that,

“Nooooo! It's is mine! I don’t wanna share my treasure!!” Luffy yelled with his hands in air and face facing the sky, he then gave a beastly growl and death glare to Jane,

“It’s the other way round Luffy, I won’t share him with anybody!” Jane said dodging Luffy’s angry fist and throwing him a punch.

Ace and Shanks broke into laughter at the antics of the two and the others from the group gave a sigh that Luffy was back being Luffy and none of them cared about the family business Ace, Luffy, Jane and the unknown Redhead were discussing about. They started getting on the plane as Law was instructing them not to pay any hid to Luffy and Jane. He asked the men at his disposal to take care of the luggage and started giving instructions for making preparations for the flight. Everybody got into their seat and got comfortable, they were discussing why Robin and franky had opted out and did not come to join them. Law explained all the friends about the private plane and other stuff. Zoro listened to Law for a while and then came out and stood near the stairs, kept watching the fight, he also noticed Ace and Shanks talk happily, sharing some smiles as they looked at Jane and Luffy.

Meanwhile out near the runway area, Luffy and Jane were fighting like siblings who did not want to share their mother with each other, Ace and Shanks were calmly talking about Luffy and Jane and catching up for some time till Jane and Luffy were exhausted from their fighting,

“Okay! Let us stop them now! You guys need to leave.” Shank said,

“Yes! Those hopeless brats!” Ace said as they made their way to fighting duo.

Ace smacked Luffy in head and Shanks grabbed Jane’s both arms, Luffy and Jane were giving each other death glares,

“That’s enough kitties! We gotta go!” Ace said as he tried to contain Luffy’s rage,

“Noooo! I am not going to share my treasure and I am not giving my straw hat to anybody, not even Sana!” Luffy yelled and Jane face palmed,

“What?? I don’t want that hat you stupid! I said I won’t share him, he is my dad you moron!” Jane yelled, Shanks laughed and released his grip on Jane’s arms, she stood straight and dusted her clothes,

“Idiot, you ruined my favourite suit for stupid hat! Tsk!” huffed Jane as she adjusted her tie,

“It’s not stupid hat stupid Sana!” snarled Luffy but he received another smack from Ace making Luffy whine,

“You look just fine!” Said Shanks as he made her turn back to face him, Shanks gestured Ace and Luffy goodbye as he steadied Jane near him. He combed her messy blond hair with his fingers as if to set them properly when she was fixing her tie and suit. After he was done with her hair, she undid all his efforts and messed her hair again and bent down a little and put his hand on her head again,

“You didn’t do it properly ol' man!” She said as she stuck a tongue out at him,

He snorted at her antics and rearranged her hair neatly, she gave a smug smile and leaned in his touch on her scalp,

“I am gonna miss you dad!” Jane said little sadly,

“Well I can finally enjoy my time with Mihawk while you will be gone!” he said as he gave her a smirk,

She scrunched her nose and narrowed her eye on him, she suddenly took a step back from him. He chuckled a little, pulled her by her hand before she could run off and took her in bear hug. He was a head taller than her, her anger went away almost instantaneously; she immediately melted in his hug as she stuffed her face in his shirt while putting her hands around his torso. Shanks spotted Zoro looking at them before Zoro averted his gaze quickly as his green orbs met Shanks’ brown,

“Idiot, I am going to miss you too! Enjoy with these people around. Party, dance, go on beach, swim and serf, go all out. I see, there are so many good looking youngsters, you don’t have to miss me you know, though I don’t think anybody is as handsome and smart as me but I wonder who is that texting friend of yours? Is he better looking than me Jane?” Shanks asked in amused voice,

“I told you already, you are way better than any other man I know!” she said as she hugged him firmly,

“I wished I would have been born as a man!” her voice was muffled,

“No, I like you girl better, I don’t know how would looked as a boy! Yuk!” chided Shanks,

“Shanks!!” she yelled in muffled voice,

“Okay now, off you go! All boys must already felt so inferior seeing you get clingy to me, they would think that you like old men better and you won’t get any guy to hit on!” chided Shanks,

“Pervert old man! I won’t go if you say a word more!” Jane yelled in his chest. Shanks gave a hearty laugher which rumbled through his chest and Jane started laughing too, she let go of him, tried to push him backwards a little which did not work and she walked towards the plane waving him goodbye with a smile,

She met Zoro before climbing up the plane and they entered the inside and Jane instructed the man to close the hatch after waving Shank’s goodbye again,

She made it in front of everybody, cleared her throat and they started looking at her,

“Guys, welcome air Galley-la! I am your host and owner of the plane ‘the white knight 2’ along with this whole facility, Jane Jaraquille. I am sure that all of your needs would be taken care of and hope you would find the flight comfortable, we would be in air for approximately 4 hours. Eat, drink, dance, play games, do whatever you like except from disturbing the pilots and opening hatch and jumping off! Enjoy!” she said and everybody made cheering sound and Luffy clapped,

“Sana, Sorry for that, I thought you wanted my hat!” he said as he stood from his seat near Nami,

“It’s okay Luffy, that was fun, we should do it again!” Jane said smiling,

“Okay, but before that I want meat!” Luffy said and received a smack from Nami which did not change his expressions one bit,

“You see that lady in black dress, she would give you all meat you want once we take off okay!”

“Okay! Let’s go!” Luffy yelled and they all settled back in their seats

Jane started walking past everybody, she saw Usopp and Kaya seated together just behind Nami and Luffy’s seat, she smiled at Kaya who retuned her smile, on the other side of the Luffy and Nami were Law and Boa seated together, Law had closed eyes whereas Boa looked in pain as she looked away from Jane’s gaze to look out of the window, after them were seated Cohza and Vivi they were chatting with each other and gave smile to Jane as she walked past them, on the left side when Jane turned her head again,  Sanji and Porche were making out which Jane avoided looking at, behind those two were seated Bony and Perona, they looked busy in gossiping.

Jane turned her head again to spot some empty seats and after two seat-pairs were seated Brook and Chopper, chopper was reading from some book and Brook had his eye closed and was listening some music, two seat away from Perona and Bonny was a blonde girl, she was just appeared to be looking around for something but suddenly she took out the newspaper and started reading from it when she gave Jane an awkward smile as Marco went and sat near her.

Jane looked at the unknown handsome man and thought that she had never seen him with these people before. She saw Ace seated alone with headphones on his ear as he was on the last seat at the very back of the compartment, he was looking out of the window and a girl with black hair which she had not seen before was also seated alone in very last seat opposite to Ace’s seat, she gave Jane a warm smile, Jane immediately returned the gesture, she then looked to somebody else and gave a nervous smile to somebody Jane did not care to notice as she made her way to Ace,

She went over Ace, leaned on the seatback placing her elbow on it as she took Ace’s headphone out, suddenly, a good looking blond man with suit came near Jane from somewhere and saluted her,

“Everything is ready and we are ready to take off, your highness.  I have checked with Mr. Peterson, the Rosolt Island is ready to welcome our guests and preparations are exactly as you would want them to be.” He said in formal tone. He looked as if he was intimidated by her mere presence; he never looked up and met her gaze but only once when he saluted her,

“That is good Jason. I take it that all the things are according to our requirements and of course, our standards, I won’t allow any mistakes this time!” Jane said keenly looking at his face as if to scrutinize his expressions or something, Ace and Zoro had slightly wide eyes and raised eyebrows at Jane’s sudden impassive curt voice and formal language, but they decided to keep quiet.

“Yes your highness. I would set up the com channel in the chambers right away. My lady ……the regular cuisine…. ?” he said in soft voice.

“No doubt, arrange it immediately!” Jane said coldly as she stood up, closed her eyes and tucked her hands in her pockets, she talked like a 30 year old man and appeared quite mature while talking with him,

“Yes My lady, right away!” He bowed and went away, the sound told everybody that they were going to take off soon, Jane loosened the tie at her neck as she opened her mouth to speak, but

“Wow! Your highness! That is all okay but why is he so scared of you?” asked Ace, Jane thought for a second before replying Ace as she looked at Jason’s retrieving form,

“That is not important! Why are you sitting alone like this in here? You are people person, it’s so unusual for you to sit like this all alone and where the hell is Zoro?” Jane asked in serious voice,

“What? You kidding me!! He is standin’ right behind you!” Ace said smirking at Zoro,

Zoro cleared his throat uncomfortably as he realised he is been following her and looked away from his smirking friend, he spotted Tashigi who had just given him an awkward smile while he came following Jane, she had been listening to all the conversation as she sat just near them, Jane looked over her shoulder and smiled at Zoro, she also saw the raven haired girl looking right back at them,

“Oh! You don’t need to follow me just yet, you know!” Jane said smirking,

“What you mean just yet?” Zoro asked with amused tone as he scratched back of his head,

“Hey! You two, gimmi some space would ya! Go away already!” Ace said making shooing off sign with his hand, Jane made ‘what the hell’ face and Ace smirked at her,

But Jason returned and bowed again,

“My lady, we had received the package in time ready to be opened, the chambers is ready for you and everything rest is on the way.” She gave a slight nod, turned to face Zoro but instructed to Jason while looking at Zoro who was indeed looking at Jason’s face,

“Jason, on second thought, make it two and make sure none of my friends are left unattended!” with that Jane motioned Zoro to follow her, ignoring the bow Jason gave.

They went through different compartments, there was a modest compartment with stylish dining table and nice classic bar adjusted in it too perfectly to tell that it was in fact on a plane, this one was definitely as big as the the one where all people were seated in those comfy chairs, next compartment was a one with garden like look on it having six very attractive loveseats arranged so as to give privacy to each one and after they entered the compartment that actually contained couch like comfy sitting arrangements, with lots of pillows and also had big chairs to sit on facing the oval shaped couch and table in the center of compartment, there were no windows in that compartment, it appeared to be a library, everything was either white or gray. Jane went in and Zoro followed, she took off her coat and tie and sat on the couch and Zoro followed her to couch and sat near her,

He soon got comfortable in there, Zoro was observing the elegant interior of the compartment. He noticed, there was a big TV on the opposite side of the book section. Soon Zoro notice that Jason had come back and gave Jane her tablet and a big brown bag of papers and an envelope confidential written over it with red ink. Jane put the bag with papers on the short table on which had a lamp stand at her side of the couch and took a small paper out of it as she read it very keenly. Soon an airhostess came in, she pushed some buttons on the glass panel near door to make table legs grow and it came to level where it was comfortable to eat while they sat on couch like a hotel’s table and chair arrangement.

The hostess then served them wine and sea food salad, none of them spoke a word or did any kind of sound, only sound was little cutlery sound which was unavoidable but hostess was taking extra care with all the things she did as she busied herself serving the food and wine, she also had brought a bowl in which were various fruits and a glass container which had olives, she settled the things on the table and went away, meanwhile Jason had gone over to the opposite side of the compartment and pushed some buttons in built in glass panel on the white colored wall of the compartment to switch music on which was soothing and volume was very low.

Zoro noticed Jane was just reading from the papers Jason had brought and was looking very engrossed reading it, Zoro opted to observe Jason as he was curious what he was so afraid of. Jason took a cellphone looking device off the drawer and turned it on, pushed some more buttons in it and placed it on the table near them, the he took another tablet out from drawer and did something on it and put it in what appeared to be its holder as to face the one who is seated on couch, it showed a live camera feed in the first compartment where they could see all the people in first compartment, Zoro noticed that Jason was doing all the things calmly and confidently, even without an instruction from Jane Jason was working as if this was all quite usual for him. After his work was done, Jason went and stood near the compartment door as if to be at some polite distance from them. Zoro finally took his eye off the busy man and looked at Jane who was looking right back at him, smiling slightly.

“Jane do we..” Zoro abruptly stopped while talking as he thought his voice had come too loudly for his own liking, he could not comprehend why he sounded so loud,

“Don’t worry! It’s this compartment not you, you will get used to it, so relax. You are not being too loud.” Jane spoke softly barely above whisper, taking in hand her wine glass, as she looked at him and smiled as she offered another glass to him,

“Okay!” Zoro mouthed at her awkwardly smiling and taking glass from her hand, she gently clinked their glasses and Zoro smiled nervously again before looking away as he was totally overwhelmed by everything about Jane,

“Zoro, I really need to read this now, please don’t mind, I would not take much time!” Jane said in formal voice,

“Hey would you drop it already, it’s starting to freak me out, this formality and this language of yours. Read whatever ya like just don’t freak me out, okay?” Zoro whispered in her ear as he had bent forward, she smiled and nodded to him, he nodded back. After that she took the envelop and broke the seal on it, she took papers out Zoro looked away from her so as not to be felt peeking in,

She still was reading as they kept eating their salad and enjoyed the wine,

‘I thought for many days Jane, I thought that you were unreachable for me since the day I saw you first it had been a difficult quest, but after months of hard work and research, somehow I found you out! I actually met you and we started seeing each other and hanging out, it lifted my spirits and I got my hopes up. Now that I have finally got you as my friend, my heart was ready to accept that I can be someone more than a friend, but this is too much Jane! I don’t know where would I fit in your world.’ Zoro gave an inaudible sigh in defeat, he stole a glance at Jane as he thought about her and her way of doing things,

‘I don’t know what to do, I am very traditional and kind of orthodox, I am not this rich, hell nowhere near this. I didn’t think that I may lose you because I am not a nobility. Hell, I am no match for you. I am not even high tech like you and Law. I don’t know how am I gonna proceed or how am I gonna even tell you that I like you. Jane, if you were a moon for me before, now you seem like a star in another galaxy all together, shit! What the hell am I gonna do?’ Zoro was thinking as he chewed on the delicious food.

The device on the table made a small beep and bright red light was blinking, Jason quickly came rushing to the table and put on the speaker,

“You will now speak with Lady Jaraquille, be quick!” Jason spoke quickly and curtly, ‘Jason would not even want Jane to bother stretching her arm a little and pushing a button on cell phone? He treats her like the Queen, he is like a butler or something? God, I hate this guy, I hate his eyes when he secretly looks at her, I feel punching him when he looks like that at her’ Zoro thought.

“Reporting, lady Jaraquille! Everything is according to the schedule, weather conditions are normal, we would not be facing any of the climatic problems it seems” the man on other side spoke and Zoro raised an eye brow at the sound of the voice, they too sounded totally intimidated by her,

“Good, that will be all, gentlemen” Jane said in cold and sharp voice,

“Yes, My lady” the man said before device went dead, Jason put it where it was and bowed low before he finally went out of the compartment after he bowed, again without any instruction for Jane to be bothered with,

“Wow! You are like Queen or something?” Zoro whispered as he made an awkward face,

“No, not exactly. These people are not from around here, they are from Mariejoa. I could not tell it all in front of Ace, actually my organization, which you would soon be part of, had freed them from the slavery but it is not easy for them to mix up with regular citizens, they stand out too much. They are free now, like the citizens of grand line, I had told them to return to their villages or home town, to their own families but many of them came back and few won’t go home. I think they were not accepted there, so we have them here working for us, at least they have a pay and a work. They are alive and living without any bonds of slavery on their necks, plus they are very reliable.” Jane said as she was seeping her wine and she put the paper in pile carefully. When she looked up before continuing, Zoro was looking right back at her with wide eyes,

“You mean there are still those things going on in here? This guy was a slave?” Zoro whisper yelled,

“Yes! Look around you Zoro, world is not perfect! We can’t even guess what they have been through but if we offer them love and care, they don’t react to that likewise, they don’t have that kind of mindset anymore, they don’t need to be always pitted you know. But I luckily had figured it out long time back, I have to keep scolding them to make them feel that they are important and what they do is important, I have to order them around for them to be able to live normally.” She said as she looked Zoro in eye, she had unreadable expressions on her face which soon changed to panic and anger, Zoro slightly raised his eyebrow as he poured wine from the bottle kept on their table,

“They don’t fear you, it’s the respect! But they don’t know how to express…..”Zoro was trying to figure out,

“Kind of! Poor people! Actually I am face of my organization for them, I was leading the mission to rescue them so they see me as their hero. But the fact is I had great help from this amazing worrier from fish man islands, a guy named ‘Fisher tiger’, an absurd alias of course but they all know me too, so my people used that fact to get them civilized here. My organization won secret award or two for all this act of so called bravery. I hated to attend those stupid ceremonies, world government is so sick.”

“Oh! I remember, here was war! The Green army and world government! Using that fact some people had attacked Mariejoa. You were sent on a rescue mission there? Holy shit! And you were what? just a kid, 15 may be?” asked Zoro.

“17! I had two years of service in Red army! This Fisher tiger was literally a heaven sent help for us. We were out of food and ammo. If it would not be for him, the whole bunch of kids would remained chained in there and would have remained un-rescued while the others got out. We were simply unaware of that particular area where they kept children, but in the end, I had to bear the terrible loss Zoro.” Jane said as she was looking at her wine glass with unblinking eyes, as if she was still pained by the memories of her mission, her voice had silver of despair in it,

“Loss? What happened! You did rescue those children right?” Zoro asked as he slightly touched her shoulder with his as he got closer to her,

“Yes, we did. I still feel defeated and miserable losing three members of my team, there were lot of injured people Zoro, badly injured. Best soldiers, created and trained by my people, just like me, now they can’t even fight anymore. I don’t know how I got out of it. I was not completely unscathed but I remained……… functional at least. That was one of the most dangerous missions I took as a soilder, when I got back to school girls used to scare away from me, I looked like a freak they said, talked like one. Law knew it!” She spoke barely about whisper and her brows were furrowed,

“It makes sense then, this all My Lady and Your highness stuff!” Zoro said as he gently touched the glasses to make it chime so as to bring back her out from the painful memory,

“Not actually, I would make sense we land, I own the island!” said Jane, he made ‘what the fuck?’ face and Jane nodded at him putting a finger on her lips, trying to shush him.

“In a sense, these people have sworn their loyalty to the organization, to me and they say they are ready to die for me, as if I would ever allow that! Idiots!” Jane said with sorrowful voice, Zoro shifted the wine glass in in other hand as he slightly touched her free arm with his elbow which was near his side as he spoke,

“Well, if I were one of them the I too would ..” Zoro was cut off by her harshly,

“No Zoro, you would not, don’t speak like that, it’s not a joke okay!” Jane yelled as she gripped hard his tanned mighty wrist in her smaller pale hand,

“Relax dude! Chill!” Zoro said quickly as he looked at her and made apologetic face but Jason had come in with troubled face, Jason was looking bewildered as if Jane had never raised her voice in front of him before but after a minute he realized that he had come without a knock, he bowed low,

Zoro noticed him bowing and remained bowed as he had stolen a glance at their joint hands and swallowed thickly as if he was sorry that he had some something very wrong by coming in unannounced. Jane realized that she had took hold of Zoro’s hand and started pulling out but Zoro had caught her hand in his and held it firmly but gently.

She sighed and looked at him making an apologetic face, she put her glass on the table before speaking,

“I am sorry Zoro, I didn’t mean to yell. I just don’t want you to face something like, don’t think and talk like that. Not even hypothetically! Okay!” Jane said avoiding looking at him in eye as she felt his warm gaze on her face and she let him hold her hand in his and turned to look at the poor Jason,

“Jason, you are dismissed!” She said in impassively,

Jason nodded and left as quickly as he had come in, Jane closed her eyes and signed inaudibly as she leaned into the seat, dropped her tensed shoulders and threw her head back so as to rest it on the back of the seat after Jason left.

“Hey, it’s okay! Don’t worry! Mission like that are bad and they mess up with your head! I understand!” said Zoro, trying to sooth her troubled mind.

“You know Zoro, that mission did take a toll on me. I was not totally inexperienced but I still was a kid Zoro, I was on a mission but merely as a person, not as representative of any country or organization and so were all those who came with me. You understand that Zoro, I was a nobody for that duration, no status, no credentials. If I had got caught and if I had failed, I along with all of my team would have ended up being salves till another one of such missions would have been taken up by somebody like us and until they would indeed have succeeded.”

“Shit! Why is that?”

“The idea was quite intimidating but had to be done none the less. I was the one who had come up with the very idea of taking such a risk so that no country, no organization would be held responsible if anything would have gone wrong or if we would not have found any salves in there, we did not have any hard evidence for invading an armed facility of so called nobles. It was already war zone, Red army was not participating in the war and they had been hunting down the Green army soldiers of Kaido, or all of them who had no identity” She continued in sad voice speaking as if memories were flashing by in her mind,

‘I don’t know why I am telling this to you, but I feel better talking to you Zoro’ Jane thought. Zoro was unconsciously drawing soothing circles on her palm with his thumb, his thumb was greeted by small scratches and rough patches on smooth skin of her palm, her milky white skin had small and thin imperfections on back of hand too, he felt her skin having some old scars, some scars looked fresh, some longer and older which disappeared inside her shirt sleeve, unaware of the fact that he should not do it, he loved the way her skin felt under his fingertips, he traced her scars as she kept speaking, his eyes never leaving her face,

“I could not ask anybody else to sacrifice for my suicidal plan, there were many people to help but nobody was there to lead, I had to fight with my own parents to take the lead position in mission. I actually never wanted anybody with family and parents and kids to end up being slaves. Most of team members were handpicked for that reason. The ultimate admirals of my organization, the leaders, they could not be brought out on to the field, they did not want me to go as I was mere a kid and that was my second year in the grand line high.” She added, Zoro was so engrossed in story he did not notice when he had started making soothing movements oh her hand with his thumb mindlessly as he listened to her.

“If the Commander falls so does whole organization. So they finally agreed to send me and I led those men into that abyss unaware of the disturbingly well maintained prison and whole damn fleet of trained combatants to guard the place. I was responsible for their lives Zoro and I failed three of them.  Mission was declared a success but their blood is on my hands, I was their captain but I could not save them.” Jane said with closed eyes, Zoro still had her hand in his warm and larger hand, Jane was not pulling back anymore but had relaxed her smaller hand in his, his calloused thick fingers caressed her pale slim fingers, as he laced them together with hers.

“You are a brave solider Jane. It’s not your fault that they died. And knowing you, I can tell that if you really would have done something about it you could have, even at cost of your own life. Sometimes you just have to accept the way the things are, that is the consequence of being a captain; you have to make hard decisions. If you go at war, injuries are unavoidable and so are the deaths. I know saying this is pretty much easier, you only know what you have gone through I cannot even imagine how bad you must have felt but I know you are not a bad person and not a bad captain at all.” Zoro said in deep and sincere voice and Jane smiled slightly at him.

“I am thrilled at the very idea of joining in with you people, I am really looking forward to work with you. In fact I think I may break all your crazy records of challenging the crime” Zoro added smirking as he found her looking him right in the eye, that brought slight smile on her lips,

“I hardly require any directionally challenged person in my team” Jane said snorting at his statement and looking at him with genuine smile this time and his eyebrows twitched at her statement, he sighed and dropped his shoulders, as he gave her ‘Please’ face.

“But I would definitely like to have a man with strength of the hulk and a brain like the Sherlock …..um….though the built in GPS module in that brain of this green haired Sherlock does not work I still can find a use for you, so I may think about your proposal Mr. Zoro Roronoa!” She said in formal and serene voice so as to freak him out,

“Gee! I am honoured, your highness” Zoro said as he mocked bowed and smirked as she smiled at his antics as if she never imagined Zoro cracking a joke,

“Now, my dear Robocop can we do something fun. I feel like an old man sitting here, like listening that slow music and drinking wine. We are in our twenties for God’s sake.” Zoro said, he still felt himself being loud but he did not care anymore and Jane smiled a little more at his statement.

“Well, tell me what you would like to do. By the way, I really am older than you!” Jane said in mocking tone as she tried to pull of her hand from his, but he pulled her closer and made a pissed off face and pointed a finger at her nose almost touching it,

“No you are not! And don’t even try to convince me that you are! What is wrong with you? I mean girls generally don’t like being called older, hell even boys don’t like that and you seem to care less about everything other than your organization and your dad!” Zoro said and squeezed her hand gently when he mentioned her dad.

“Hey! Don’t talk about Shanks! Don’t drag him in here now!” Jane said making childish angry face.

“ _Wagatta! Wagatta!_  [alright! alright!] Either you tell me about your crazy motor biking experiences or your badass missions like that one or maybe we can watch movie on this TV, I have them here in memory stick if you want.” Zoro said as he slipped his free hand in his pocket,

“Oh! We don’t need that, I have a nice collection. Just you wait I would call Jason, just a sec” said Jane and tried to pull her hand out of his grip but Zoro’s hand would not budge,

“No! You don’t, you can order me captain, tell me where is this collection of yours” Zoro got up finally leaving her hand and took out his coat as that was quite nice temperature they had maintained in there, he didn’t need his coat anymore he practically had decided to show off his well-toned torso and give Jane a nice private show. He stylishly tuned on his heel a little so that his back would be facing Jane, he smirked as he made sure that Jane was indeed looking at him while he slowly pulled off his coat,

“I don’t know exactly where is that thing,…..Um…………Jas…… Jason manages everything in here Zoro!” Jane said as she stared at him while he took off his coat as he had a back at her and she swallowed thickly as she watched his muscular strong back, his beautiful biceps, those were clearly visible due to tight white t-shirt, Zoro simply looked delicious but she quickly averted her gaze him off hand closed her eyes but Zoro came over where she sat and spoke impatiently.

“C’mon get up dude, we will search then, don’t call that guy in here okay!” Zoro dropped the messily folded coat on the chair in front of the couch and took her hand and made her stand up from her comfy position before she could call Jason,

“Okay! Okay! Chillax!” Jane said pushing Zoro back a little as he was too near for her comfort.

They found the hard drives she had movies stored in and finally got settled on one movie to watch after looking at whole list of movies and started watching movie. As usual, Jane fell asleep half way through and after that movie was still continued but Zoro kept staring at her face, he had scooted further near her and had put his hand where she had her head rested. Sure enough after half hour she had changed position and was resting her head on his arm, he gave an inaudible sigh of contentment and saw the rest of movie with Jane asleep near him leaning on his side.

\--------------  

“Hey have you seen Zoro around, he came with us didn’t he?” Asked Sanji as if he didn’t notice Zoro was there with them when they took off, in fact Sanji always had his eyes on Zoro but he had decided to make out with Porche so as to annoy him and had seen him boarding the plane so as to do it right in front of him but had not seen him since.

“Yes of course he did, he went with Jane, there are four compartments in the plane, this one is quite noisy with Luffy in here, I guess, they are in 4th or may be in 3rd compartment with Kaya, Viv, Cohza and Usopp” Ace said awkwardly as he felt very uneasy as Sanji’s behavior was getting weirder day by day,

Sanji smiled casually and went away with cellphone in his hands,

‘He is with Jane, really now? Are they serious about each other? Zoro is one person-man, I never thought he would even consider a woman that way! I can’t even imagine that stupid moss-head getting romantic with a lady. It’s disgusting to imagine those stupid bulky hands of his around a woman’s waist, who only know how to punch, how to fire a bullet or hold a sword, those hands cannot be good at holding a beautiful fragile girl. Che! He is a good kisser I will give him that but he is no romantic. He is rude, idiot, can’t even navigate properly. He does not know what women like and dislike, he can’t take them to shopping or movie. I just can’t imagine him doing stuff for a girl, or anything like me or Ace or any other man from our group would easily do for that matter, I have to save Jane chan from that stupid swordsman.’ Sanji was thinking and thinking as he was sitting at window and looking out of it,

His date had left his side long ago and joined in with Nami, Bonny, Perona, Boa, Marguerite and Tashigi for gossiping and giggling. Ace, Luffy, Marco, brook were in dining area enjoying some food, music and drinks, Sanji was sitting alone in a seat near window and Chopper was reading a book in seat near calmly napping Law, while Vivi & Cohza along with the second couple Usopp and Kaya were in compartment 3rd enjoying their quality time as the compartment was perfect for couples while Zoro and Jane were in the fourth compartment, which actually was Jane’s private chamber as Jason called it.

\-------

After movie ended, Zoro switched to another movie, it was almost two hours since Jason had left them alone. There was a gentle and polite knock on the door before Jason came in again, he had a tray in his hands and he had brought Jane her beloved coffee. He entered without looking up, balancing the tray in his hand and when he turned to bow after shutting the door behind him, he saw Jane asleep and leaning on Zoro’s side. Zoro was looking keenly at Jason’s face for his reaction, Jason had wide eyes, suddenly his breathing became heavy and he struggled to put the tray on the table,

“Her highness needs coffee every two hours, so I brought her coffee. She never sleeps in here, I mean that is the whole point of putting a library in her plane.” He whispered as he looked at Zoro with pained face and accusing eyes.

“Well she is sound asleep now! What’s the big deal?” Zoro whispered narrowing his eyes on Jason,

“She would never fall asleep during the flight, she just won’t, not even in 8 hour journey. Never! May be only except when she is with Master Shanks and that is extremely rare. She is relaxed like this around you means she trusts you! If you, Mr. Zoro or whatever, ever broke her trust and tried to betray her, I swear to God I will have someone find you and I will you killed.” He said still whispering, gritting his teeth and giving death glares to Zoro. Zoro was shocked at his statement, it did not look like that humble and pale little buddy was capable of saying something like that, ‘Well, little kitty here finally found her claws!’ Zoro thought of scaring him away but then he thought about what Jane had told about these people, ‘she is important to them, so he is reacting like that’ though Zoro and changed his expressions from angry to sincere,

“Jason, I am glad that she has people like you around her.” Zoro said sincerely in very serious voice. Now it was Jason’s time to look surprised.

“Look sir, I owe her my life, there are many people like me who do and we would not let anybody hurt her again like that ever again. Nobody would ever again betray our beloved master and get away with it! My brother works in her office, I would always know if she is doing fine or not! We all are searching for that bastard Lucci and I am telling you beforehand not to do anything to harm her!” Jason whispered as he narrowed his eyes on Zoro.

“Who Lucci? What had happened to her? Did he hurt her?” Zoro asked getting confused, he wanted to sit up, or even go to him and ask more but Jane was leaning on him as he himself had gotten closer to her earlier, now was regretting his decision as he felt that he was taking advantage of her. He gently pulled her off him and put her on couch while sliding a pillow under her head. Zoro stood up and Jason took a step back, Zoro went to him,

“Look Jason, tell me who hurt her and why?” Zoro asked,

“I am not supposed to tell this to anybody sir, she does not even know that I actually know about all this, because I am not supposed to. Look, I thought you knew already as she seemed to trust you.” Jason said taking a step back,

“Don’t give me that! Tell me what happened, who is Lucci, who is searching for him and what are you so damned scared of?” Zoro asked as he was getting impatient. Jason was looking like he was mad at himself for blurting out more than necessary and was blinking violently as if he was struggling with words, he was thinking what to speak next,

“Sir, I would tell you that she does not trust anybody easily and she was betrayed by one of very few persons she trusted with her life, so she is sad, so sad. I am also sad because of that, so are all her people. I am not afraid of her, I like he….I mean I admire her….I mean I owe my life to her.” He panicked and sweat had started to appear on his temple, Zoro was mad now, he narrowed his eyes on Jason and put his scary face on,

“Hey! Blondie, tell me who did what in straight words, no circles, no puzzles, no merry go rounds okay!” Zoro asked as he took Jason’s shoulders in his hand while he gave him scary angry face, his deep scowl, scary eyes and unhappy frown made Jason gave in, all that proud and brave face, the façade he had on all this time had now completely collapsed when he felt Zoro’s powerful hands on his shoulders, powerful enough snap him in two, the range in Zoro’s chest made Zoro impossible to feel that how much force he was using while gripping poor Jason and he started rambling in weak and sacred voice,

“No, no, it is not what you think!” he quickly said,

“Focus little man! Tell me what exactly happened! Don’t make me ask same thing again and again! Why you are afraid of her?” Zoro said as he fought back an urge to yell at him loudly,

“Sir I CANT OKAY, I REALLY CANT, I SHOULDN’T” Jason whisper yelled with panic clearly written on his beautiful features, as Jason was having trouble keeping his eyes on Zoro’s scary face,

“Who hurt her and why?” Zoro felt bad for making him feel like this, Zoro loosened the grip a little and Jason took a deep breath closing his eyes, he was totally scared of Zoro,

“Sir, she is awake, look” he said quickly glancing where Jane was, Zoro left his shoulders and turned around thinking what possible explanation would he give Jane for interrogating her butler in her own private jet, but he found Jane sound asleep like a baby on the couch. The next second, there was a gentle voice of door getting closed, Jason had an emotional breakdown and now he had run away. Zoro gave a sigh and he made his way to sit near her head.

“Who is this guy Lucci and why did he hurt you Jane?” Zoro whispered as he looked at her sleeping face, he gently and carefully moved fingers on her face, she slept like a baby and Zoro was enjoying watching her sleep.

After some ten minutes, Law came in and his eyes widen a bit. He saw Jane asleep on couch and Zoro sat near her, watching movie as he caressed her head running his hands through her short soft hair,

“Zoro-ya, what happened with you and Jason?” Law asked,

“Nothing, just a little chitchat and it was about Jane. I need to talk to you Law.” Zoro said in serious voice,

“Well that is good coincidence because I need to talk to you too and we will, once we reach our destination now don’t talk to Jason unless you are asking him to bring food and booze. He is damned scared of you and will have a cardiac arrest and Jane would not be happy about it, he is her favorite…………um….coordinator or more of an organizer we may say. He knows all about her likes, preferences and he does everything within set time limit and perfectly as she wants even without having to tell or instruct, so it would be convenient for us to keep him well and functional at all the times.” Law said whispering.

“Got it!” Zoro whispered back.

Law sat there on another chair and read a book he had taken from Jane’s library there. Zoro kept his hand busy in Jane’s hair, Law did not object or react except for the curious glance he had given Zoro when he entered the chambers and Zoro was watching his movie in small volume of sound just as before,

\-------

“Jane-ya? Hey! …….Good morning captain! Wake up!” came Law’s voice as he tapped on her shoulder,

“Trafalgar! _boke_![Stupid] You are going to die! _Shine_! [Die]” Jane said as she threw her hands in air, eyes still shut closed and Zoro raised an eyebrow at her Japanese,

“Wake up captain!” Law said as he patted on her shoulder to irritate her

“I want Dad! Get the hell off my face _Baka yarou_! [Idiot bastard]” she said as her hands finally found Law and she pushed him away,

“Captain we are going to be late!” Law said now tapping on her head, she tried to slap his hand away but missed every time as she still had closed eyes and Zoro was silently laughing at he watched his friends behaving like children, Zoro was rather enjoyed her slang but native language of his hometown, the way it sounded from her mouth, the way it rolled out of her lips, it was sexy,

“ _Chikusho_!!  Get the hell out of ma bedroom. _Naaiya! Teme!_ ” Jane mumbled in sleep as she changed angle so as to cover her ears and face with something near her, and fortunately for Zoro that was his thigh with his coat placed on it, she has her face stuffed in his coat and his left thigh. He curbed an urge to take her in his arms right then and there, but swallowed thickly as he kept his thoughts straight and tried to think rationally,

 _“Oyaji!”_ whined Jane trying to call out for Shanks,

“This is not your apartment and Zoro is not your pillow. We are in the plane, Dad’s little girl!” Law said in deep voice laced with amusement and knocked on her head a little harshly as he took off Zoro’s hand from her head,

Jane grunted and muttered some more curses as he made her sit up on the couch and tuned a little to rest her limp body against the couch, her hair was mess and she further ruffled them sleepily then blinked a few times and stretched her body and her hands a little, she saw Zoro and Law were in there with her,

“Aww Man! I slept while watching a movie again! Goddamn it!!” she yelled with closed eyes and sleepy face,

“You had a good nap Capt’n! ” Zoro said smirking.

“Because you made me saw that boring movie!” She said sleepily in a very childish voice and pouted at TV.

“We are about to land Jane, pull yourself together, C’mon.” Law said, she still looked sleepy,

“Umm…….Sleeeeeeeepyyyyyyy!” she said as she turned her face down and closed her eyes, putting her face in her hands, Zoro stared at her lazy and sleepy form, he was mesmerized by her sleepy face. 

“Okay! I have a solution for that too” Law said as he narrowed his eyes on his best friend, he stretched his arm and got the phone like device, he pushed a button to speak while he held it,

“Jason, bring fresh coffee for Jane and send Luffy, a kid with a straw hat in here, immediately!” Law said as he put down the device before Jason could even respond,

“What’s that?” Zoro asked,

“A problem child is the solution of our problem child in here!” Law said as he tried to shake Jane a little.

Luffy came barging in, jumping up and down on his feet, with his enthusiasm over flowing,

“What happened? What happened? Tell me what happened tra-guy!” Luffy asked as he settled down a little and started exploring the compartment,

“Luffy-ya, Jane-ya is feeling so alone and lonely, she is so sad!” Law said and Zoro raised an eyebrow at his taller friend, Jane had her face in her hands cupping her cheeks, eyes closed and sleepy face with pout,

“Big deal?” Luffy said and went over Jane and hugged her firmly,

“Don’t let go Luffy-ya!” Law said as he gave a smug smile while looking away,

“Okay! I am up, am up! Go away! _Boke!_ ” Jane said in panic, eyes still closed, brows furrowed as if to say ‘What a pain’ and trying to push away Luffy.

“What are you saying Sana! Don’t worry I am there for you!” Luffy said as he smiled merrily,

“Okay! I am up, just let go!”  Jane said and finally got up for real, pushed her clingy kid brother back and went to the washroom,

“I recently had found out that Shanks has to do it to wake her up if she falls asleep in the unusual time like that!” Law whispered to Zoro,

“Unusual?” Zoro asked raising his eyebrow.

“Yes, night time being usual, we have our body clock set for our working hours, training hours but if she falls asleep like this, then she sleeps like a baby and gets pissed off when somebody wakes her up, only Shanks can handle her when she is like that! As our Luffy-ya is a miracle worker, I had him take care of our sleepy little devil. But that has changed now a days, she had become an owl or a bat you may say. Poor girl does not sleep at all, it’s good that she fall asleep here, that might have taken some of the stress off her mind” Law said as he had sly smile on his face. Jason also listened to Law and inwardly thanked Zoro for putting Jane to sleep,

‘Shanks is quiet important person for her, disturbingly important!’ Zoro thought. She came back from washroom all freshened up and Jason served coffee to all of them, while he avoided looking at Zoro at all times,

\--------

Jane told Jason to make everybody gather in the first compartment and told Zoro to follow her, they were about to land in 20 minutes, Jane was walking to the front and Zoro was right behind her and so was Law, as they approached the first compartment, Jane motioned Zoro and Law to take a seat and she walked all the way to front, Jason following her closely, Jason now stealing glances at Zoro and Jane frequently, he stood right behind her as she stopped in front of everybody. She cleared her throat and everybody went silent to listen to her,

“Guys, we would reach soon, I must tell you something before we land. There had been a last moment changes as Nami must have told you guys. Well you all know that few days back, there was this big hurricane that struck four of the winter islands, right?”

“Yeah!” came the reply in unison.

“Well the beach house Law had bought was near one of those lands, climate there has not yet stabilized completely so to avoid risks ruining our fun, we had decided to go to an island which is near spring islands. Its name is Rosolt island, where I own a humble little place which I hope you all would like.”

“Yey!” “Yahuu!” “That’s great” “no problem” were the cheers and yells from all of the friends, Jane smiled at them,

“Little? Is it a cottage like? Like we had back in _Kokoyashi_ ” asked Usopp,

“No, just little bigger than that!” Jane said smiling,

“Okay! Good! Now another thing is where we are going there are extremely volatile political conditions in some of the cities of the Island, so as far as possible, we would keep it inside the Ocean-blue walls at all the times, I can arrange for the shorts tours and the shop…?” Jane was cut of suddenly,

“Ocean blue?” Sanji asked before Jane could finish,

“Oh! Sanji, it is name of the property my family owns…Umm….. you don’t like it?” Jane asked shooting her blonde eyebrows up her forehead,

“No, not like that. It sounds kind of familiar to a place I know.” Sanji said shrugging; Jane nodded at him and continued,

“So, fellas, we would go fishing, surfing, boating, we would party, we would dance. I also can arrange for Ice skating and dancing if you guys want but we would mostly be doing everything inside the premises! Kay?” Jane asked, and they all nodded with happy faces,

“Wait! You can arrange for Ice skating in Spring Island, really?” Asked Nami,

“Yes, I have few favors to ask from this bunch old creepy looking scientist, studying climatic conditions there!” Jane said as she made funny face, all people laughed at her funny expressions

“Can I meet them? I also want to see the lab!” Nami asked as she stood up suddenly,

“Sure!” Jane said and Nami jumped up and clapped her hands.

“You are the best sister!” Nami said as she slumped back in her seat. Jane chuckled before continuing further,

“We would have bunch of people in there, helping us around a bit, they are all friendly, hope you enjoy their company as well. This guy here is Jason, he knows everything about the place, you may ask him if you feel confused or something. But go easy on him, he is bit overloaded at the moment!” Jane said in amused voice, girls giggled as her statement had brought a slight blush on Jason’s face and some of boys snorted at her statement as she made her way back to seat near Law. Zoro wanted her to go and sit beside him but he didn’t say anything nor did he look at her after that.

‘Did she hear anything from what happened there? Did that Jason tell her anything? I should tell her before she finds out from somebody else! That would damage this thing forever! I don’t want that!’ Zoro thought as he closed his eyes.

\-------

“You all may take a look at the Manor, the Ocean blue, it should be there on your right side, just look out of the window” Jason spoke after 5 minutes, everybody looked out from window and they were stunned by the big mansion and the big garden and premises visible from up there, Zoro also got awestruck, he looked back over his shoulders to see Law and Jane were still discussing something very serious.

“You mean that house? Wow!! it’s so huge!” Luffy exclaimed,

“Boy! You can say that again, it’s frigging palace! ” Sanji said,

“SO Beautiful!” Nami said, “And majestic!” Tashigi added,

“Well, definitely Jane style!” Cohza said as he smiled at the site and Vivi nodded to him, she knew about the place already,

“I am very excited at the rare beauty if this structure and view from up above, I feel like my heart would fly off, yo ho yo ho ho!” Brook exclaimed,

“Wow Jane! We can play all we want! That is such a big garden! It looks so pretty, and those fountains are amazing!” Chopper said, she smiled at the teen,

As they went closer the view became clearer, Lush green well maintained Lawn spread for miles, big manor, a traditional gigantic marvelous structure stood in the area hovering above all the trees and greenery around it only make it stand out the more and those traditional reddish brown slopes giving it a look of old fashioned palaces were amazing, the mansion was having more than 240 degree ocean view, greenish well maintained a tennis court, a closed arena like area, a basketball court, big clear blue swimming pool, three another small old fashioned but newly constructed buildings, many garden chairs placed around table that gave it a look of flower from up above and tables scattered in the garden area making it look like patterns painted on the green garden floor, long and mighty trees stood around the walls of the premises like guards on duty, small volley ball net placed on the beach in front of the bar or café like structure and wooden platform, many palm trees surrounding the bar and other areas……everything went visible as they came closer and closer, there was a runway to the extreme right of the whole area and an aircraft hangar too. There was silence after those admiring comments, everybody was so engrossed looking out of the windows till they landed, that silence broke with a taunt.

“Humble little place hun Jane?” mocked Ace.

“Seriously, you had to overdo it, hadn’t you?” Usopp said as he pressed his goggles tightly on his nose,

“Wow, if we sell it how much is that in bellies?” Nami exclaimed.

“Nami! That is a lovely house, why anybody would want to sell it!” Vivi said panicking as if Nami was actually trying to go and sell it to somebody,

“Yes, plus, that is a gift to Jane! And she would ever thought of selling it to somebody for mere money” Kaya added with a wary smile.

“Mere money? Seriously?” asked Nami with disbelief, “Well I would, it’s good that it does not belong to me!” added Nami.

“Wow! Seriously a gift?” Tashigi said,

“I would marry the one who would gift me such a place!” Porche said daydreaming,

“Porche san!!” Sanji whined,

“So you ready to marry 72 year old man Porche san?” Jane asked and she and Law laughed along with Kaya and Vivi, they all knew the story of the mansion being given as gift to Jane,

“72 year old man? Haah! I don’t mind if he is cute!!” exclaimed Perona, that made all men burst out laughing along with Jane and Boa and other girls yelled ‘Eww!’ with pained faces.

“Yes, that was his place he gave it all to Jane as a parting gift!” Law said after all the laughter died down,

“That is very nice old man! I like him very much! We can have a big party! Means lots of meat!” Luffy said as he clapped his sandals on each other,

“How can you think only of meat! Even at the time like this! Geez!” Usopp yelled as he threw a something at him which did hit his head but was ignored by Luffy and mostly all of the others………

\-----

They landed soon and hatch opened, they were getting out and there were three limousines waiting for them, everybody was out and starching their hands and breathing in the air in the island.

“C’mon, Boa is princess, she must own bigger mansion than this!” Nami said as she stretched her hands,

“We do own a bigger place, but that is what I inherited, not what I have earned. This facility was earned by Jane, something worth to be proud of. She must have helped them a lot.” Boa said as she looked warily at Luffy who now stood right beside her.

“Thanks Boa you are such a darling!” Jane said smiling at her, which went totally ignored as she was gawking at Luffy and Jane chuckled softly at her as she went over to Zoro. She gave him her cell phone which had images of the very mansion they were talking about, he rested his hand on small of her back as he took her cell phone in his other hand; he was barely succeeding to keep his hands to himself, which Law was amused with.

“Wow! Get real Jane!” he whispered as he continued watching all the photos,

“Oh! Ocean blue is gonna knock ‘em dead!” whispered Jane as she chided, she smiled at Zoro’s surprised and admiring gaze on the photos.

“I bet Jane had it modified and modernized!” Bonny said smirking,

Zoro was keenly looking at the photos, admiring the old structure; he was actually in love with that traditional look of the place. He was internally getting relaxed as there was still a chance for Zoro to tell Jane what really happened, Jason was giving him death glares and so was Sanji as Zoro had his hand on Jane’s back,

“Such a precious gift! She must have!” said Ace as he rubbed is palms,

“No, she did not. It has not been damaged in that way at all, it’s beauty is still unaltered. She kept it all like it was, she bought the nearby land to add three new buildings, the big swimming pool built, the play courts for tennis and basketball had been built, garden and the wall and trees and runway for planes, Aircraft hangar and sports club and car parking everything was built afterwards and placed so as to suit the beauty of the manor and renewed accordingly!” Jason said in tone of a caretaker as he loved the place far too much and would never stop admiring it. Jane’s voice snapped his rambling.

“Thank you Jason!” Jane said in cold voice,

“I am sorry my lady” he bowed his head to Jane and then to Ace and Nami quickly before he went away to relay instructions and motioned other men to take care of other things and luggage,

“Guys, forget all that, just enjoy okay? Now get into cars, let’s go home” Jane said and they got into cars one by one,

\---------

They reached the manor with very astounded faces as, to look at the Manor up close had made it that more mesmerizing, the traditional stone carved patterns on outside walls were simply beautiful, so were the pillars and the big protruding structure, as in the Porch, where the cars stopped one by one and they got out. Everybody except for Jane and Law dispersed in the front area garden just to take a look at whole of the Manor front at a time, Photos were clicked to capture the beauty and memories. It was beautiful and mighty old fashioned but well maintained, traditional British styled property, a very elegant design and they all were fascinated by the overall feel of the place, the white stone fountains and beautiful white statues of worriers on horses, archers, mermaids and the benches carved in white stone, they went over to different places and took photos with each other,  

There was kind looking old guy who came smiling to greet Jane as soon as she set foot out of the car, she stood at the door and looked at her friends and their happy and excited faces, Law was stood beside her, she had a soft smile on her lips and her head was slightly tilted,

“Ma’am!” Jane was greeted with warm smile,

“David! How have you been?” Jane said smiling at the man who had been her adviser and helper in the Islands matters, political or financial, since the day Jane was decided to inherit all of this,

“Fine Ma’am, I hope you, Master Shanks and Master Mihawk are doing well, Welcome home!” he said so sweetly as he took her tab and bag of papers in his hands and walked after her, Jason followed them like a loyal servant,

“Jane, come here we want to take a group photo, come on!” Ace yelled as he came running to her,

“No Ace, you guys carry on I gave some work to do!” Jane said as she simply was shying away from all the photo thingy,

“No, you don’t! You are on vacation!” Law dead panned and Ace picked her off her feet and threw over shoulder and took her where the whole group was, they took lot of photos and Jane had to be there in all of them.

\----

After that photo madness, everybody finally decided to go inside, they went through very large and long brown colored doors which had patterns of leaves carved on it,

The interior was also elegant, either traditional wooden or modernized made up of glass, they arrived at the big hall like area, there was a huge circular couch to seat on, huge glass table and there were lot of paintings hanging around tall walls, showing mountains and ships on ocean and various battles, there were some old photos too, they were seated and offered water and fruit juices,

“Okay guys, I did my Job, travelling part was mine to handle, I also had like …about 25 rooms set up in here, you can choose all you like, except from mine and of course my parents’. You can go take tour of whole manor if you are up to it. But take some rest before, trust me it wears you out. We don’t have any elevators here, it’s only stairs. We will have lunch together, after that whatever Nami or Ace or you guys say because I really suck at all these party and celebration things, so I am retiring here so somebody take charge and leave my head alone!” Jane exclaimed as she acted all tired and then smiled and they all laughed,

“25 rooms? How many you have? more that 100 I suppose!” Marco asked looking at Jane,

“We have in total 147 working bedrooms, 120 closed and out of service, four dining halls, five ball rooms, three Kitchens, one being on this very floor and another one at third floor and third one on fifth and allied area for Kitchen, four storage rooms, five modest cellars and an art gallery per floor and five libraries along with a study per floor!” Jason spoke up on behalf of Jane. Corners of Jane’s lips twitched up very slightly, only upon close observation would anybody could tell that she smiled at the reply without even sparing a glance at Jason,

“Holy Moly! That’s it Jane, you just like to show off! You are like your brother in this aspect! And you are too choosy for your own good!” Usopp said,

“Well, thanks Usopp!” Jane said smirking at him,

“That was not a compliment Ghost-eyes!” He yelled at Jane,

“Oh! That was! Usopp san, this thing is meant for the show off! I agree with Jane san!” Kaya said, Jane smiled at her.

“So, what after Lunch? What we do?” Asked Perona,

“First we are having Lunch!” Luffy said excitedly.

“Yes, that is why she asked after the Lunch you moron!” said Nami,

“Meat!” Luffy yelled and Jane smiled,

“Let us get him full first if we even want to enjoy this vacation a bit!” Sanji said,

“David!” Jane said in soft voice.

“Yes, Ma’am, Lunch ready to be served, it is already late for Lunch as it is!” he added,

“We had light snack in the flight David, don’t worry so much! You take some rest, I know you have been doing all arrangements since I called. Jason!” Jane said and Jason got to work, he went to kitchen and told them to start preparing to serve the lunch, then he came back to where everybody was seated, Jane again glanced at him and he blinked twice,

“Yes My Lady, right away!”  he went to somewhere and came back with a glass screen in his hand, he put the delicate looking object on the glass table and took thumb impression of everybody, while they kept chatting and talking,

“Why all this stuff?” Ace asked Jason wording feeling of almost everybody except for Hawkeye personnel,

“Well, you see Sir, some things in here….um….. like some doors and some machines have finger print locks, I would need to feed in your data to make things accessible to you all!” Jason tried to simplify his answer so that he would not confuse anybody,

“Oh! It is simple Ace, It is a mystery machine!” Luffy said while making a serious face, that made everybody shook their heads, Jane chuckled sweetly at her innocent kid brother.

\----

Jason explained to them as all the people were having lunch that the interior of room was mixture of traditional and modern things, lights, switch panels, electric things, were all high tech and modern while furniture and the bed sheets, pillow covers and curtains were old fashioned. They chose to have lunch first and they have been giving Jason a hard time, they had nice lunch in royally traditional and elegant dining hall. Sanji was especially impressed with the cooks they had there at Manor and the he was enquiring about various recipes,

“Jane, if I may, I would like to have word with cooks!” Sanji said in sincere voice, which made Ace worried that much more,

“Oh! Please you don’t need to ask, feel free and make yourself at home!” Jane said and glanced at Jason,

“My lady!” Jason immediately acknowledged and bowed, he went over to Sanji and asked him whatever he had wanted to see and ask the cook about, Jason assured him that he would make the cooks talk with him and show him the kitchen and ingredients.

“I would like to see Ball rooms and art galleries!” Brook said,

“Yes sir, I would take you after Lunch!” Jason said quickly,

“And I want to see library!” Chopper exclaimed. Jane smiled at the excited child.

“Yes dear, Jason would take you!” she said,

“He sure works a lot!” Nami said,

“Yeah! I am like a cripple without him and David. If these two are around, I would sit in my room whole day, won’t even come out for a second and house will still run just fine!” Jane said with proud face,

“We just do our jobs Ma’am!” spoke David sweetly,

“You are so lucky Jane!” Nami said,

“Yes dear, I am in deed!” Jane said as she smiled at her,

\------

They chose their rooms, some decided to share as the rooms were too big for person as they thought, and couples wanted to be together as it is,

They took tour of Manor and dragged Jane everywhere they went in spite of her protest. Cohza and Vivi shared a room, so did Usopp and Kaya. Nami, Tashigi, Perona, Bonny took rooms adjustment to each other’s, Sanji got Porche to share room with him. Brook, Marco, Ace took room adjacent to each other’s, Luffy shared with Ace as he had no habit of being alone though he had been offered to share with none other than Boa herself which he denied instantly, Chopper took the room near to the Library, finally Boa and Marguerite decided to share a room the one adjacent to Luffy’s.

There were 18 rooms on a second floor so they almost occupied a floor, Law and Zoro opted rooms on upper floor where Jane, Shanks and Mihawk had their rooms, Library was on that floor too so Chopper also had room on the same floor as Zoro and Jane but a bit away from their's so as to be near library. They opted out visiting upper floors as they felt tired already. They all loved the Manor very much and Jane did not even come to know when time flew by and it was evening already.

 

 


	9. Can't keep away from you!

 

Brook was seated in the stool at the big old fashioned piano, playing a pleasant melody as he also hummed a song along with it. Nami and Vivi were checking out various books from the long and big old fashioned wooden book cases alongside the wall as if library wasn’t enough, there were books in here too, Cohza was occasionally talking with Jane and Kaya, as they all were enjoying the music being played, they talked about local political issues of the island, Cohza was really very interested in politics and Jane had noticed it already.

Sanji was gawking at Nami and other ladies as he stood near Nami to hold the books she had been taking out from the shelf. Zoro sat beside Cohza in an old fashioned chaise lounge and was talking with Jane, Kaya and Law, they have been discussing about Zoro’s joining into the Hawkeye team. Jane, Law and Kaya were seated on couch near Zoro’s position; Boa was gawking at Luffy as she occupied one of the arm chairs and kept quite most of the times but interrupted to Jane and Cohza’s conversation when they would talk about politics. Jane had noticed that she also was good at it even at her young age. The blond girl, Marguerite was helping Vivi find the book.

Luffy, Chopper, Usopp were sitting by the Windows, looking at the blue ocean waves as they crashed on the white colored sand shore, Ace and Marco were seated on the old fashioned arm chairs facing the other similar arm chairs, 

“So, what are we going to do now?” Tashigi asked as she made her way with Perona and Bonny on her heels, they entered the majestic room where all the others were seated

Everything stopped and everybody turned their necks to looks at Tashigi, she pushed her glasses back on her nose and got self-conscious, Bonny giggled and Perona spoke scrunching her nose,

“C’mon, don’t do that now! It’s not cute! She just asked what are we going to do now” Porche and Nami giggled,

“Yeah! Get your asses up, let’s do something fun, guys!” Bonny said as she came as sat on Marco’s Lap, looked over her shoulder to give him a wink, poor Marco went stiff and did not move a bit, he looked dumb-folded her sudden bold move,

“Oh! I know, I know, a Beach party! We will also have bonfire in night time!” Luffy exclaimed excitedly as he threw his fists in air,

“Not a bad idea, Luffy-san!” Kaya said as she smiled sweetly. Ace nodded in agreement as he smirked at Marco as he was enjoying the awkward funny expressions Marco was giving,

“Guys what about volley ball? It will be fun!” Marco asked as he tried to behave normal but the awkwardness was felt in his voice and that made Nami, Vivi, Porche and Perona giggle.

“Hell yeah! That would be fun!” Zoro exclaimed recalling that Jane did say that he liked playing volley ball,

“Count me in!” Ace said smiling,

“Volley ball or not, I wanna built an enormous sand castle, I would built it mightier than this manor!” Usopp bragged with his Usopp-the- overly-proud-face,

“Wow! You can do that Usopp?” chopper asked sweetly with big brown innocent eyes,

“Of course Chopper! I did it when I was just 10 you know, for a professional like me its piece of cake!”  Usopp lied with ‘isn’t that obvious?’ look and most of the people snorted at it,

“So, cool!” was the exclaim from totally impressed Luffy and Chopper, Nami gave Usopp a glare and Kaya looked at her warily,

“Seriously? What in the world!” Nami was about to tease him but decided to let it go and turned a little to talk to Jane instead,

“Umm,.............. anyways, Jane can we have Barbecue there? I mean Sanji is with us and trust me he is good at it! We can also have drinks and some music?” Nami asked as she turned to face Jane,

“Thank you Nami swan! I feel so honored and loved that I would ………” Sanji was ignored rudely and Nami had hit him with a book on his face,

“Yummy! I want meat!” Luffy exclaimed which also was ignored by everybody except Jane as she smiled at him,

“C’mon, we just had Lunch. I am so stuffed that I don’t even wanna think about eating food for some time! Luffy you really are bottomless pit!” Usopp huffed,

“On to the main topic guys! Music is must!” Law said as he looked at Ace and did some eye gestures that Jane did not see,

“Hell yes, it is! We would dance too” Ace exclaimed as if he had understood what Law wanted to say, Marco and Bonny along with Usopp, Sanji, Nami and Vivi had noticed that there was something going on as they were in line of sight when Law tried to signal Ace something about Jane.

“Oh! I would love to play some piano, I would not be participating any games as it is!” Brook said in soft voice. Jane was thinking about all the things and the arrangements were to be done. In actual she already had told Jason about Booze, Barbecue and the music systems but the Piano had to be arranged and so did the platform for piano and some decent Dance floor,

“Sure you guys, we have preparations for it, no need to worry. We already have small beach café there, and small bar too, arranging piano and dance platform won’t be any difficult. Jason would arrange everything in time.” She said after a minute as she glanced at Jason standing away at a polite distance from them, he rushed near to her as she glanced at him and nodded his head as if telling that he had understood what she wanted him to do. She looked at Nami and gave an reassuring smile,

“Sanji does not need to work, we have a good cook here too you know!” Jane said as she did not want Sanji to spoil his holiday time in cooking here too as he always did cook every day in the grand line. Sanji smiled genuinely sweet as he put books in his hand on a table and made his way to Jane walking _and not swooning and noddle-dancing around like a love stuck idiot,_

“It’s is so lovely of you to consider about me! But that is no work for me Jane chan! I love cooking, it’s my very soul, I would get a chance to impress a beautiful girl like you with my cooking skills, please let me do it. It is no bother at all!” he said in very sincere and smooth voice as he kept looking in her blue eyes, he did not even blink but got down on his knees and took her right hand in his left and placed a warm and lovely kiss on back of her hand without breaking eye contact. Nami and Porche gave him glare, Vivi had a raised eyebrow, Perona and Bonny were almost silently giggling, Jane had blank face,

Zoro was sending him death glares while he tried to bore holes at the back of in Sanji’s head with his extremely angry eyes as he looked at the blonde cook,

‘What the fuck you think you are doing ero-cook? Just stay away from her! Can’t you just stay away from one girl…….. a single girl in this goddamned Universe? Why you have to swoon over every woman, you flirty bastard?’ Zoro was cursing the cook,

“Okay, as you wish Sanji!” She said smiling slightly she shrugged as she quickly pulled away her hand from his,

‘That is a bit odd!’ ace thought, ‘That was not flirty Sanji at all, he sounded so serious. Man! What the hell is he up to now?’ Ace looked at Law who was looking right back at him with ‘What the hell is going on?’ face, Ace shrugged and shook his head as if to say ‘No idea’. Chopper and Luffy had innocent faces as they looked at their friends looking at Sanji as if he just had wasted his own food and all the boys along with some girls were glancing at him with suspicious look,

Nami cleared her throat and killed the awkward silence,

“Ahem….Ahem…..guys go to your rooms and get dressed for some Beach time!!” Nami said excitedly,

“Yay!” Luffy and Chopper exclaimed and the environment went lively and noisy in a minute as all started chatting and discussing about clothes, outfits, Party and game.

\---------

Jason had made two of his men to put up the net for the game, he gave Usopp a bucket and tools for his castle building, he put some ice filed and temperature controlled boxes with drinks and Booze in it and had servants put some wooden beach chairs along with arrangement of shade before anybody from the grope made it out to the beach, all arrangements were complete. Jason was in his casuals now, finally out if his black suit and white shirt he always had. Jason wore dark green shorts and grey T-shirt. Jason was about 5 feet 8, he was lean and moderately muscular, he had pale skin like Sanji and golden blond hair with beautiful green eyes, he was definitely a good looking man. He had two scars on neck which did not suit his soft personality at all, also he had mark of slavery on his back which of course remained hidden at all the times.

Zoro, Ace, Marco, Law, Cohza, Sanji were seated on the beach chairs enjoying the sea moist air, chatting with each other as they waited for girls to join them, Luffy and Chopper were running along the cost excitedly as they had water guard placed around their waists, Brook and Usopp were looking for the spot to build the sand castle.

Ace wore a black broad shorts, his beloved orange hat and he decided to keep on his red pearls necklace on with his well-toned torso bare of any clothes, Marco wore navy blue broad shorts and white unbuttoned shirt thrown on his shoulders stylishly, Zoro had opted for black broad shorts and blue tank top and loose unbuttoned white shirt on it. Cohza had light blue colored broad shorts and white tank top, Sanji had red colored shorts and white loose fit light gray t-shirt, Usopp had yellow colored trunks and Brook wore black trunks and light blue shirt. Chopper had blue jammer on and white t-shirt while Luffy had his usual red T shirt and blue shorts.    

“Please follow me, Lady Jaraquille wants you to be at the port!” Jason said when he came near Ace and others.

“What port? And she is here already??” Zoro asked as he looked around, he turned his head to inspect the beach around 360 degrees to find Jane, Sanji narrowed his eyes on Zoro's different behavior but decided to keep mum as he himself was annoyed about why he was getting all worked up seeing Zoro obsessed with a girl and then Luffy yelled at them to hurry,

“Luffy? What is he yapping about now?” Ace said while Zoro asked Jason where Jane was.

“Yes sir, she was here 10 minutes earlier even before you guys came here?” Jason said politely,

“That’s definitely Jane!” Law added as he stood up and so did the others,

“So, Jason where are we going?” Marco asked as he put his arm around the shorter blonde’s shoulders, Jason cringed at the contact a little, went stiff and looked at Marco warily.

“Sir, that is a surprise, I am not allowed to tell any of you!” He said in formal tone trying to get away from Marco,

“C’mon Jason, you can call me Marco, don’t need to sir me every time you know!” he said in deep smooth voice as he smirked at Jason as he pulled him further near to him, grinding him to his side Jason almost yelped,

“Yeah, that would be easy really. This sir stuff does not work well with me too, plus it gives me feel that I am an old man or something!” Cohza said as he now was walking along side Ace and Marco who was chuckling at Jason’s attempts of getting away from him. Zoro kept quiet as he followed them keeping few feet distance away, Jason was being teased by Marco and Ace, Sanji was walking alongside Zoro suspiciously and unbelievably silent and not bickering with him. Law was on other side of Zoro, walking with hands in pocket of his black shorts,

“That is force of habit, I can’t help it sir. And, it really would not be appropriate too. You all are our guests and her highness’ friends, I cannot do that!” Jason said in weak voice,

“We would talk to Jane about it, I don’t think she would mind, call us by our names Jason” Luffy said as he was walking ahead of all of them,

“But sire?” Jason said in panic,

“If you don’t understand that language then how about I order you to address us by our names.” Ace said smirking as he jabbed playfully Jason’s shoulders from other side making him uncomfortably cozy and even nearer to Marco, 

“Yes, I …..I would try my……. best” Jason managed to mutter out,

“Atta-boy!” Marco said as his hand came to rest on small of Jason’s back, Jason’s cheek tinted pink but all of them decided to ignore Marco’s teasing and Jason’s blush,

“Hey! Idiot, do you even know where are we going, why are you walking up head of everybody hun?” Sanji yelled all of sudden,

“Don’t worry sir, …..I mean…Sa….. Sanji, we are going in the correct direction, we are heading for those trees……” Jason said awkwardly, stealing a glance at Marco’s smirking face,

They went to the side where the area was completely covered by various trees, Palm trees being most attractive, the view of which was blocked by the large trees crisscrossing, there was a wooden pathway created through them. They reached a broader part of wooden platform and couldn’t help but widen their eyes as that was some surprise Jane had for them. All were greeted by two lovely speedboats anchored at the small port and Jane standing in one of them, there was a bigger boat too. All boats had ‘Ocean blue’ written on it above the green line that ran though half way around the boat creating a stylish design, there was a small silver star like design with small ‘Jaraquille’ painted in gray.

Jane had dark grey broad shorts on and she wore a black and navy blue rash guard, she had goggles and a red cap, she had the some black colored glows on which hid the back of her hand and half of her fingers, she looked at them with smile on her face as they all made their way to port with amazed faces,

“Speedboat, Yahuuuu!” Luffy yelled as he ran to get on to boat, chopper and Usopp following the suite,

“Jane?” Ace asked,

“Guys I figured that your girls would require little more time so I thought we enjoy a short trip in the ocean? C’mon get on!” She said winking and stuck out her hand for chopper to take and she pulled him up easily,

“What if they come and no one is there?” Sanji asked panicking, ‘I thought I could get to see her in bikini, she looked so damn hot in that tight fit suit while we were in flight. I never knew she was that curvy!’ Sanji thought while he imagined all other girls in bikini running along glittering watery shore with their boo…..  [pervert Sanji time]

“Hey! Snap out of it Sanji!” Ace yelled at Sanji,

“Yo Sanji, your nose is bleeding! You gonna be okay?” Marco asked shaking Sanji with his hand on his shoulders to snap him out if his idiotic dreams,

“Oh! My bad! I think I should be waiting here!” Sanji said regaining his composure,

“No need to worry Sanji! Get on, Jason is here! So are all his men! If you don’t wanna come, just say it!” Jane said as everybody other made it inside the boat,

“I would like to remain here Jane chan!” Sanji said as he looked away from her, Ace and Law raisied an eye brow at Sanji but Jane gave him thumbs up and shrugged looking at Ace,

“Okay! No problemo!” Jane yelled as she smiled at the friends who were getting on board and started the engine.

\-----

Luffy, chopper and Usopp were busy talking to Jane and trying to get to learn how to drive it, Usopp had nice skill set, he immediately got the technique, so did Luffy, they were having nice time. Cohza, Law and Marco were also enjoying the view of Ocean and the reflection of the Manor in ocean water, admiring the beauty of the majestic building as they were having a nice chat.

Ace went over to Zoro who was standing with his weight leaned against metallic railing on opposite side where all others were standing, as he stared at Jane talking and laughing with Luffy and others,

“Zoro, come over here a sec!” Ace said in low voice so as only for Zoro to hear, they went over the back side where they were not be heard,

“What is it Ace?” Zoro asked stopping some feet away as Ace stooped and turned back to look at him,

“You tell me what is it? I mean, what are you doing?” Ace said, Zoro knew this was coming sooner or later, he knew what Ace was asking about but he just pushed his luck,

“What you mean? I am enjoying the speedboat as you guys are!” Zoro said shrugging.

“Don’t give me that Zoro. I have been observing lately, you are getting closer with Jane, you steal glances at her, hell you sometimes stare at her when she is not looking. I thought you were not into women……Mmm……..anyways I saw you and Sanji making out…..and more than once.” Ace said with a raised eyebrow,

“You did?” was exclaim from Zoro,

“I have to admit that it was too hard to believe even when I saw you two like that for the first time, I just could not believe you two getting that way with each other even when I saw you with my own eyes. I spotted you together for many times after that. What happened all of a sudden, I mean between you two?” Ace asked boring his brown eyes in Zoro’s green,

Zoro did not answer,

“Look Zoro, we never meddle in, you never asked me about what I do with girls or about my love life for that matter. Believe me, I don’t like to do it myself, I never would have asked you Zoro, but when it comes to Jane I have to, I am her big brother after all. You can tell me alright!”

“When and Where?” Zoro asked in closing his eyes,

“Oh! You mean you and Sanji? In your own apartment, dumbass, that day we had sleepover at yours, we were watching football match remember! Ever mind closing windows idiot? I gave seen you guys from the window of my apartment too.” Ace said still sounding damn serious.

“Shit! Hey look, that was never like that, I mean we never were a thing, okay. He hates me and I thought I liked him or something but it is the past now!” Ace narrowed his eyes on Zoro as he came closer and his voice got scarier like an overprotective brother would sound,

“What is going in between you three? Sanji acts weird around her? You act like you are in love with her? She seems to know you too well for my liking? What the hell is going on? You were never into girls before, what makes you think that this will work? Why her?” Ace finally asked Zoro the very question Zoro has been asking himself since many days.

“Why her you ask? I don’t know Ace. I really don’t know why her! I just know that I love her and that is that! You don’t need me to remind that I have never been into girls before. Just look at her, dude, she is totally out of this world! I don’t know but I just can’t keep myself away from her.” Zoro said as he closed his eyes, Ace was still giving him glare, Zoro gave a sigh before continuing,

“I met her long before we even found out that she was your sister, I met her at the _Baratie_ for the first time, she was in some disguise, I thought she was a boy and I liked the moment set my eyes on her, thinking she was a guy. That day, she had this cool bike, helmet and long hair back then, but even when I got to know that the guy I had been checking out was in fact a girl, my feelings did not change. I don’t just know why! Okay?” Zoro said as matter of fact,

“ _Baratie_? I wonder, if she used to visit Brook’s with you and she also been visiting _Baratie_ , how come Luffy and I never spotted her before?” Ace thought aloud,

“Look, she is cop or more like this super-secret-detective-agent type and I am a cop too, we met again accidently after _Baratie_ incident and then kept seeing each other occasionally. It’s not been much time but I know now for sure that I love her. And even if you have problem with this, I cannot help it and I won’t give up!” Zoro said narrowing his eyes on his friend with look if determination on his face. Ace smiled, changing his expressions suddenly after Zoro completed his sentence, Zoro shot his eyebrow up,

“I heard what I needed to. I hope you sort it out with Sanji first, because if you two are trying and making each other jealous using her as pawn or doing each other favor with my sister being victim or third party then both of you have another thing coming!” Ace said as he thought about Sanji’s weird behavior.

“I don’t know what he is up to okay? I am facing hard time to keep myself beating him to the pulp!” Zoro in angry voice almost greeting his teeth as he thought of the blonde cook,

“Okay! Chill now! I think Law can help you, I knew her as a kid and man she was a handful. Law is been her best friend since school, he knows her better than any of us right now. I mean he was the one who told me that Jane had been going through hard time and somebody needs to be there for her, so he had asked me to be her friend and if possible someone more than that, you understand what I mean!”

Ace snorted at Zoro’s confused face,

“You know what, he actually was setting me up with her, but we did not know that she was actually Sana my sister, though we are not actually related but she is my sister, I always considered her as my own no matter what!” Ace said in deep voice,

“What you mean she is been going through hard time? I know that somebody close to her betrayed her. Is it like she had.. ….I mean…..shit!….Ace, did she….. a boyfriend? An ex ? You know anything Ace?” Zoro asked awkwardly.

“Yeah! I know that she had heartbreak some months back but I don’t know any details, Law said I did not need any!” Ace said and Zoro felt his heart getting heavier.

‘So, she had a boyfriend! I bet she still is in love with him, that is why she is been so reluctant like this the whole time, that is why she would work round the clock and that is why she seems so secluded! I had an idea of this when Jason said all those things, so this Lucci guy must be her ex. What a looser, who would betray her? And for what possible reason? Oh! He must have known that she is a Hawkeye cop. No! No! They are not allowed to tell, then why he did that? Oh! Jane, why didn’t I found you before? If only I know that bastard…….. I am gonna make him pay!’ Zoro was deep in his thought he did not listen Ace speaking,

Ace finally shook him with his shoulders,

“Hey! Zoro! Back to earth!” Ace yelled.

“Yeah!” Zoro said blinking,

“I said take it slow, I don’t know how she would react. I mean she is hell of a nut-job to deal with, she seems arrogant sometimes and she is little aggressive and hot headed too but she does have a soft side.” Ace said smirking and winking,

“Thanks dude!” Zoro sighed as he felt a small percentage of weight lifting off his shoulders, he had lot of investigation to do and he had to talk to Law,

“Just one more thing! If you break her heart, I won’t hesitate kill you!” Ace said as he started to walk away,

“Yeah? You are the second person who said that to me in this very day!” Zoro yelled, Ace raised an eyebrow as he looked back over his shoulder,

“Who is the first?” Ace asked with disbelief.

“Jason!” Zoro said furrowing his brows; Ace made ‘what the hell face’ but did not say anything as he left his friend alone with his thoughts,

\-------------

When the speedboat made it back to the port, they all ran to the beach, Sanji was seated alone on a beach chair under shade drinking some colorful liquid, there was no sign of other girls on the beach, one of the servants offered all of them same drink but Zoro, Jane, Marco, Ace opted out to have a beer instead. They sat there waiting for the beer but suddenly girls came running on beach, exactly as Sanji had imagined, they were giggling and admiring each other as Sanji started swooning as soon as he spotted Nami and Porche in bikinis.

Nami wore a red colored bikini she looked so hot and irresistible actually, guys would not have been able to take their eyes off her if not for other girls around, Porche had blue bikini they looked absolutely fabulous, Kaya had yellow and white colored one piece with retro flappy hat around her head, she looked cute, Vivi wore a cut off blue shorts, bandeau, pink tank top. Tashigi, Margurite, Perona wore bikini in different shades of pink while Boa had a stunning black bikini and white cover up with white flappy hat.

Ace and Jane smirked at each other and soon wolf whistles were heard all over the area as Cohza, Marco had joined Jane and Ace in whistling and fake swooning, as girls came to where as people were seated.

“You all look so pretty, I can’t stop admiring you!” Sanji said as he stood up and took Porche’s hand and placed a kiss on it, she gave him mischievous smile,

“Couldn’t have said it any better myself, you all do look so pretty!” Jane said with big smile on her face, she was seated near Zoro, who was glancing at her occasionally when he thought nobody would notice him stealing glances at her and Law was seated on the other side of her chair who was aware of Zoro’s behavior towards his best friend,

“Well, you made us weight long enough but that was worth it!” Cohza said as he put his hand around Vivi’s waist as made her sit down on his lap,

“Nami, we would be same team ne?” Luffy said as she took Nami’s hand as made her go with him to the net. Usopp had Kaya sat on his lap, he and Kaya were talking something but Usopp couldn’t take his eyes off her, she looked stunning in that yellow one piece, suddenly Marco threw ball at Bonny and Perona and ran away quickly as he laughed, but Bonny caught it in the midair while she smirked before running after him, meanwhile Law had stood up and was talking to Tashigi as he asked her to join his team after he admired her, she blushed a little before she said something in his ear, Law looked at Jane and bent a little to jab her in shoulder playfully with his fist, she slapped it away quickly,

Boa was looking at Luffy from corner of her eyes, Boa was totally unaware of Jane’s actions when Jane suddenly took her hand and pulled her towards herself, Boa went off balance but Jane caught her in her arms, Boa gave a squeak before she actually understood what was going on, Boa blinked at Jane’s very close face, as she sat awkwardly on Jane’s lap,

“Hey!” Zoro said, Jane have him a wink, as she shushed him quickly,

“You look absolutely stunning! You have unparalleled beauty, princess, really I don’t know the exact words to convey my amazement! Could you do me a favor dear? Would you like to be the one to watch over these bozos? I mean we need an umpire!” Jane said to bewildered Boa, as Jane had her on her lap and Jane’s left hand was around her waist and Jane’s other hand was holding Boa’s beautiful in her own,

“You….you think …they …….they…cheat?” Boa shuttered as she blushed a little due to her awkward position, she had never sit on girl’s lap like that before,

‘Jane, what the hell are you doing?’ Zoro thought, he knew Jane did these sort of things to get funny reactions out of people, hell she had did it to himself in Lawless Zone of Sabaody before they had bike race with Sabo, just to piss Sabo off she did that with Zoro and had driven both boys crazy,

“Well, not Luffy, the kid is too innocent for that! But keep an eye on others [Jane pointed her finger to Law] including myself!” Jane said winking to Boa quickly before she stuck out her tongue at Law and they both gave hearty laughter,

‘Jane you behave like a kid sometime!’ Zoro said smiling slightly watching her laugh,

“C’mon, we are playing ball. Get into two teams guys, who is in my team?” Jane yelled as she raised her free hand in air,

“Meee! Meee!” Luffy yelled and raised his and Nami’s hand simultaneously,

\---

People got divided into two groups, Law’s and Jane’s, Ace, Jane, Zoro, Tashigi, Nami, Luffy in one group and Law, Marco, Cohza, Sanji, Vivi, Bonny in second group. Boa stood as an umpire. Kaya, Chopper, Perona decided to watch the match and cheer them up as they enjoyed their drinks, Usopp was building his sand castle Brook was helping him and watching the match, Marguerite was also building the sand castle of her own as so to compete Usopp.

Game was being played nicely till Luffy broke the net and then they just played in ocean water, throwing ball at each other, burying people into sand, Nami and girls got a speedboat ride with Sanji when Jason took them while others relaxed on beach enjoying the sunset,

\----------

Soon it was dark, chilly winds picked up and all of them were exhausted playing in water, making sand structures and running around the area. They decided to get cleaned up and have a nice barbecue and party on the beach.

\--------------

Brook was looking at the music Jason had brought out from the Manor, as he stood on wooden platform arranged for placing piano, Jason gave a sigh of contentment as he was finally had done with all the work organizing all the things for party as he waited for the group to arrive. As usual Jane was first to show up, she went over to Brook as she took in the entire scenario and got satisfied with overall atmosphere.

There was a modest bonfire, there was neat seating arrangement done in form of small wooden chairs and mats around the bonfire, some stools were placed as well. The small bar was lit in soothing warm orange lights, the wooden dance platform was neatly arranged as the hanging lights were placed on the wooden bars overhead the platform. The whole beach area in front of bar and around the bonfire was lit with warm make shift lanterns made out of big candles placed in glass jars on wooden stands, it was romantic and sea water was glittering with the light available as it made soothing sound as winds brought it to the beach shores, Brook had been given a nice piano and he was looking at some DVD,

“You feel it alright Brook?” Jane asked as she stood with hands in pocket of her black/dark gray drop crotch cargo,

“Yes, Jane san, it is very nice in deed. Jason kun had made this all the arrangement so quickly it is almost impossible so believe that this all is was not here few minutes back! Those lights are simply amazing!” Brook said as he smiled at her,

“I am glad that it is up to your expectation Brook! Seems like we are going to enjoying this beach party!” Jane said as she went over and sat on the chair near the bon fire, threw her head back to look at the starry sky and sighed as she placed her hands on the armrest and slumped on the seat as Brook had started the music system and slow heartwarming melody was being played.

The sky was clear, one could look across the ocean and see starts till that large dark horizon separated the sky and ocean, like it was ocean of starts in the sky, like they were competing for the vastness and beauty. Her eyelids came down a little to cover half of her eyes, slight smile was playing on her lips, she felt herself enveloped in the cool soothing ocean breeze as it caressed her skin and ruffled her short blond hair,

‘It’s been a while since I spend such a day! How peaceful and I am perfectly tired, I guess I will sleep good today!’ Jane thought and she closed her eyes, she felt a numb stung at back of her eyeballs that went away after few seconds.

‘Lucci, no matter how much I decide not to miss you, the fact is I do, every time, everywhere, in whatever situation I am I do miss you. It was real for me though it wasn’t for you, I loved you, in fact I think I still do. That is stupid, so stupid, I know. Though you did not care, though you used me, though you didn’t love me back, I can’t deny the fact that I was happy with you, you made me feel loved, loved like I was your life partner, that way you made me feel and you made me fall for you, it was for the first time in my life that I felt loved like that.’ She sighed in defeat, her eyes were getting watery but she did not want to cry,

‘It’s just like dad said, I have to either keep mourning over my broken heart till I go mad or I have to forget you and move on. It’s been very difficult for first few days but I have gotten into habit of pain in my chest now. every pain subsides after some time, that is true, maybe my heart has learned to be in pain now or has gotten accustomed to it, each month seemed like a year, being alone when you have habit of being with someone is very difficult. I thought a lot on this, if you really did not love me then there is no point in being with me, I hope you find your true love, I just won’t be able to see you with another woman so I hope I never see you again, may the loneliness kill me then.’ Jane sighed in defeat,

‘This is what I have decided Lucci, I am forgiving you for what you did, because I really do love you for I really want to get out of this mess and I guess can’t get free until I forgive you. I think I am falling for Zoro, I caught him stealing glances at me many times, I know he likes me, he is total opposite of you, he is different but he is very nice, I can’t keep him at bay anymore, he is invading my mind and heart the way you had all those years back. You tamed my wild mind, made me realized that I had a heart though many people had claimed I didn’t have one, I was living for my parents and their dreams only and Zoro……..he is blending my broken heart somehow…….I don’t know, why him….many did try to get my attention but Zoro…….anyways……..I have to stop thinking like this too, talkinng like this, like you would care! no more now!…..So, Goodbye for real Lucci, I am not going to think about you now, I know you are never coming back and even if you do there is no meaning to it now…………….so Lucci I am letting you go, goodbye ,please don't come back….’  Jane's thoughts got interrupted,

She felt her shoulder being tapped gently, she cracked opened her eyes to find Marco looking at her with smile,

“Hi there, you okay dear? You are not allowed to be alone and sad when we are around you!” came his deep baritone voice,

“Nah! Not sad particularly! I just……it felt so good when I closed eyes, I did not want them to open!” Jane said she motioned him to seat beside her,

“I was going to ask you for a walk, I really need to talk to you!” Marco said as he smiled at her,

“Oh! Why not!” she smiled back she was seating up from her overly relaxed position,

“Here, let me help!” Marco said quickly as he took her hand and put other hand on small of her back as Jane stood up, Jane chuckled a little but let him help none the less,

\---------------

When Zoro made it to the beach were there was lights and bonfire, he spotted Luffy, chopper, Ace, Law and Brook talking to each other as they sat near the fire, Luffy and chopper were playing with the shells they found on beach earlier, Ace and Brook were talking about music, Brook was back in his black suit, Ace had red t-shirt and black shorts, Law had his blue jeans and yellow t-shirt, Chopper had brown shorts and white t-shirt, Luffy had red t-shirt and blue Jeans. Zoro also notice that Jason was back in his formals but he had white button up shirt and black pants, coat was missing. No girls were to be found and Zoro had figured that much as there was no other sound other than music, ocean water and crackling sound of fire. He went and sat near Ace, Zoro had opted for a gray colored tank top and white unbuttoned shirt with black jeans,

“Ace!” Zoro acknowledged as he sat down and Ace offered him beer,

“Ain’t this place beautiful? Man, feels so good here, near Ocean at all times!” Ace said as he smiled to himself,

“Man, you can say that again, I feel like staying here for rest of my life!” Zoro said, his eyes were looking for Jane and Law caught that as he smiled against the glass at his mouth,

\------

After 15 minutes of chatting, Ace spoke in an irritated voice,

“Dude, Cohza and Usopp are with their girls, I can tell that, but where did Marco run off too, I mean he was not in his room when went to see him while was coming down here?” Ace said while he looked around to find Jason, Jason came rushing to them,

“Now that you mentioned it, there is one more awkward thing here, I wonder how Jane is taking so long, I mean she is real quick every time!” Law said raising an eyebrow.

“Sir, she was here, she actually went with ….Ma…….Marco for a …a walk I guess!” Jason said in awkward voice,

“Dude!” Law exclaimed as he noticed silver of pain Jason’s voice when he mentioned Marco’s name,

Law had noticed many things since they started their journey and it had been getting interesting for him, a little more that he had expected. Zoro was totally into Jane, he could not keep his eyes off her; surprisingly enough for Law, Jane was quite comfortable around Zoro too, Law had noticed Tashigi showing an romantic interest in Zoro who was totally unaware of her crush on him, Marco had been giving extra attention to Jason, Jason kept stealing glances at Marco, he already knew about Boa’s crush on Luffy where as he had found out her friend Marguerite having secret crush on Luffy too, he also noticed Bonny trying to get Marco’s attention, things were getting far too interesting and complicated.

Zoro did not know what feeling he had in his chest when he listened to what Jason had told them,

‘Am I jealous? Should I be? I guess I am not. No, not really. Though it sounds strange but Marco must have asked her, there is no way in hell she would ask him for anything like this, she does not know him that well. That sure is a privilege, to have her by side and take a walk along the shore line…’Zoro thought but he stopped thinking as he spotted Marco and Jane walking towards the area they all were seated, they were talking and smiling all right, she seem to have a lot to talk with him.

Jane had a black drop crotch pants and a white neck on sweatshirt, a gray t-shirt, she had black convers, she looked ‘cool’ as always, both of them had their hands in the pockets as they talked and mostly looked at their feet, looked like they were having a good time. They came walking to the bonfire as they smiled at seated people, few feet away from them Marco made her stop by grabbing her arm suddenly and he spoke about something bending a little forward and she quickly nodded at him. They finally made it to the group, Jane went and sat over between Luffy and Law after greeting everybody, she glanced at Jason as he looked warily at Marco when he said something in Jason’s ears, she then gave Zoro a smiled as she raised her beer bottle a little as if to make a silent toast, he gave a short nod and smile to her while he raised his bottle a little.

\-------

   
The beach went lively the moment girls hit the bar, most of them had raveling clothes except for Kaya; Perona was as always in black and white; Nami, Vivi, Bonny, Tashigi, Boa were dressed to show their hourglass figures and all their assets perfectly, they all looked simply delicious while Kaya looked cute in her long skirt and tank top. Marguerite had jeans and t-shirt as she too had opted for non-revealing clothes. Boys were mostly in t-shirts and shorts, Brook being an exception.

“I am going to be today’s RJ guys, dance to your heart’s content!” Bonny declared from her position as she sat on one of the bar stools, Ace and Marco cheered her up,

“But when am I going to get meat?” Luffy asked as he was doing some was looking at the multi colored and multi layered drink in his hands as if he was analyzing it,  

“After we are done dancing and Sanji is done preparing food enough to satisfy your monstrous appetite along with other people here so that we don’t have a food fight here!” Nami yelled in his ear as she sat beside him, she had her vodka glass in her hand,

“Don’t worry Nami swan, I am going to start right away!” Sanji said with stupid smile on his face as his date, Porche was sitting in his lap as she ordered shots on by one,

“Ace, you have competition this time, Jane is one hell of a dancer!” Law said as he took seep form his gin and tonic,

“Shut up law!” Jane said after she choked on her swig of her beer,

“That’s great Jane, c’mon dance with me!” Ace said beaming at her,

“Forget it! She is with me!” Marco said jabbing Ace in ribs with his elbow, Jason shot his head to look at Marco but looked away quickly as Ace had noticed him from corner of his eyes, Marco smirked at Ace and Ace returned the gesture,

“What, what you mean by ‘she is with me’?” Nami asked raising an eyebrow,

“Well I convinced her to dance with me, that’s all!” Marco said shrugging and Zoro stole a glance at Jane who was shaking her head at the comments of both Ace and Marco, while she in a position where she sat with Law on her one side and Zoro on the the other where they all sat on the wooden railing,

“Don’t worry Ace, you still have partners to choose you know” Usopp said who sat on the wooden railing near the chair where Kaya sat drinking her fruit juice,

“I have a good idea guys, I already had told Nami about the themed parties, I thought we would enjoy like that more. So, we can have that kind of celebration starting tomorrow, what you say!” Tashigi asked as she sat near Nami and poked her arm a little,

“What you have in mind Tashigi?”  Vivi asked from her position on Cohza’s lap,

“We have some ideas like we dress for royal ball which actually might prove very good idea as Jane has a decent ball room in the Manor, we also can have Salsa evening, Rock and hip-hop evening, the Jane had also promised the Ice skating, then we may dress like for theme ‘Punks and goths’, you know take out your teen angst, then may be ‘the job you will never have’ theme dress up like for instance Luffy would dress up like a doctor, theme of valentine for celebrating Cohza and Vivi’s marriage, we have Jane’s birthday next week and Christmas and new year’s eve this week so we have to decide accordingly” Nami explained,

“Wow! That is actually sounds fun, Christmas is two days away, so we can have two of the themes tomorrow and day after, then may be ice skating on day of Christmas, Royal ball on 31st. We can devote the Royal ball theme party to Kaya and Usopp and the valentine themed party to Vivi and Cohza on the evening of 1st of January.” Jane said in serious tone as if she was thinking something,

“Thank you guys” Kaya quickly said.

“Yeah! Meanwhile we can have all other crazy themes you suggested” Ace said,

“We can have prom night or may be ‘Old school retro’ or something like that!” Vivi said when some of them nodded at the idea,

“Jane, I know you said that we should be in premises at all the times, but you know I wanted to go shopping, you really have to take us out there, we have saved great deal of money because you never let us spend a single berry yet, I thought I would be shopping till I use all of that money!” Nami said with pout,

Zoro shook his head at the idea and some guys along with Luffy scrunched their noses,

“Yeah! We would need cute dresses!” Perona whined,

“C’mon, order online!” Jane muttered under her breath, Law snorted at her comment and Zoro smirked at her as she made childish sad face, 

“Nami really can get us good deal you know!” Bonny said and Perona nodded, Vivi just chuckled before she spoke,

“Yes, we need to buy some important things; I think we have to go in city market Jane!”  Jane sighed as her longtime friend Vivi has also joined the shopping mania,

“Yeah, we won’t take too long!” Boa said as she looked at Nami who was looking keenly at Jane’s face, all girl's were giving her pleading faces and puppy eyes,

“Damn it! I had thought so, just gimmi two days, I will arrange that for you guys for sure. But I have two conditions!” Jane said but closed her eyes and covered her ear with her free hand as girls gave screeches as they ran to hug her except for Kaya and Boa, Jane instinctively grabbed nearest person to escape their hug-attack, the person being Zoro he pulled her near him and she got out of the way of Nami’s hug but girls halted before they actually fell on her and she looked at them in horror,

“Sorry for that Jane! What are those conditions? Whatever they are we accept those.” Nami said as she smiled too sweetly to believe that it was Nami, Jane blinked at her then cleared her throat and pulled out from Zoro as she spoke,

“I don’t want you guys wandering off in city on your own, Jason would take you to the shopping at proper area in city where you would find what you are looking for, you just have to tell him what you want, you would only travel in our vehicles and I think that is pretty acceptable and comfortable” Jane said with sly smile on her face, all girls nodded their heads,

“And, Second and most important condition, you won’t drag me along with you!”  Jane said quickly when all girls and boys turned their heads to face Jane except for Law, Zoro and Jason,

“What?” was the exclaim that overwhelmed the whole bar, Jane and Zoro had their ears covered,

“Yup, I won’t be coming and you won’t be forcing me to come. That’s that!” she said sounding stubborn,

“Okay! Then we go shopping tomorrow!” Nami yelled,

“Not tomorrow sweetheart, I said gimmi two days or at least a day!” Jane said as she sighed in defeat as no girl was now listening to her, as girls got busy planning their shopping. Jane chuckled at them and continued talking with Law and Zoro. 

\----------

Bonny was really good at mixing songs, all people were enjoying the music as their feet moved along with the rhythm, Zoro had chosen to watch from far as he went and sat on chair facing dance floor, Brook also had opted out. Bonny was enjoying being RJ and Perona had force Jason to dance along with all of them.  Ace as usual was an amazing site as he danced with grace, he tried to show everybody the moves and get them synchronized with song, they all were following his moves and whole group got coordinated very beautifully even Luffy had adjusted to rhythm, Many were singing with the song being played. Jane also got mixed up with the group; they were not dancing in pairs but freestyle but as Marco said he was closer to Jane while they danced and talked, Marco took her hands in his and bent down to say something in her ear when Law and Marco caught Jason was stealing glances at them. Bonny changed Music, now they got in pairs, Marco had Jane danced with him as he had said earlier.

To say that Zoro was jealous of Marco was an understatement, he felt his insides burn with anger, he was trying to avoid that feeling but seeing the way her legs moved with beat of music, her hips swayed when music demanded, her hands and shoulders move in accordance with her feet and hips, it was mesmerizing site, he could not look away. And the way Marco had smile plastered on his face, the way he had Jane’s hand in his, the way he sometimes would touch her waist, Zoro could not help but curse inaudibly.

Suddenly music stopped, so did the people dancing,

“Guys, Law had suggested a competition! Drink and Dance! Anybody up for it?” Bonny yelled,

“What is it about?” Yelled Ace,

“Well, it’s like 3 shots then a dance, you have to repeat the process till last one is dancing!” Law said with sly smile,

“What is prize?” Nami asked,

“Yeah! There should be a prize!” Marco yelled,

“Are you going to give us huge meat feast!” Luffy asked,

“Idiot, you are not even participating, it’s drink and dance!” Usopp yelled smacking Luffy in head,

“Oww!” Luffy whined,

“Prize is tickets and hotel arrangements to your favorite holiday destination whenever you want! For winner and his or her date! Sounds fine?” Law asked with smirk.

“So, who is in?” Bonny asked, Ace and Nami raised their hands and Marco took Jane’s hand and raised it along with his,

“Marco, what are you doing?” Jane tried to take her hand away, Zoro was keenly looking at both of them so as to read the words falling out of their mouths as he tried to figure out what was going on between them,

“We are participating, you know the deal?” Marco smiled at her,

“No, dancing was the deal Marco!” Jane said tried to free her hand,

‘For the first time in my life I feel bad that I can’t dance’ Zoro said in his head as he narrowed his eyes on Marco, he spotted Marco and Jane stealing glances at Jason’s reactions,

‘What is going on here, why they are on to Jason? Has something happened that I have missed?’ Zoro thought,

“Yeah! But this would be fun! C’mon” Marco gripped her hand tightly, as she sighed at him, Jason was again spotted looking warily at Marco, when Marco’s eyes caught Jason’s blue ones, Jason swallowed thickly before looking away from him,

“Hey you guys got it sorted out, you two are participating?” Bonny asked, Marco smirked at Jane,

“Hell yeah, she is! You aren’t afraid of losing against me, are you little sister?” Ace said as he smirked at her,

“You wish brother!” snarled Jane,

\---------

A table was placed in front of Dance floor, two bartenders were filling the shots, Ace, Marco, Jane, Nami drank all of them in one go, then Music started and all of them started dancing, it was a nice dance. The others who were not participating got into chairs to enjoy the competition, Usopp decided to record the whole thing on camera, Nami was good at holding her liquor but she was no proper dancer, Marco was good dancer but his capacity for alcohol was limited, Ace and Jane were dancing good but looking at each other before music stopped, everybody was clapping and cheering them, girls cheered up Nami and Jane and boys for Ace and Marco…

‘When Law said that Jane was a hell of dancer, she blows your mind off, he was not lying. Man she is awesome! She spins, hops, slides, falls, rolls ……Shit!’ Zoro thought as he had forgotten to take next swig from the sake bottle and was looking at Jane dancing,

“Hey Bonny, good music girl!” Nami said as she went to drink the next round of shots, she was leaning on Jane,

“Feel them up guys!” Ace said rubbing his hands,

They repeated that for four rounds and Marco got out as he refused to dance further, after two more rounds, Nami could not cope with dancing too, Ace and Jane continued for three more rounds and Jane gave up in her second shot as she made face that showed her disgust for the drink,

“That’s it, I ain’t drinking this shit, gimmi something nice, hey Law can we switch drinks man?” Jane yelled,

“Are you admitting your defeat, dear sister?” Ace said smirking,

“Really? Dear brother, tell me you are not feeling it! Why we have to have these particular shots hun! This tastes like piss!”  Jane said smirking back as she finished her third shot while Ace was gulping his third one,

They finished with drinks and went to the dance floor again; both were quite tipsy, they were holding each other’s hand to get to their destination but did not want to lose to each other, especially in dancing competition,

“C’mon, Jane give up, you are in no condition to dance anymore sweetheart!” Ace said as he let go of her hand and stood a good distance away from her and waited to get the music start,

“You dare to say that to me Ace! You just wait!” she said as stuck her tongue out at him

“Hey Bonny change of music! I have figured out you like hip hop bro!” Jane yelled as she took off her sweat shirt and threw it for Zoro to catch as he was seating closest to her, took out a bandana from her pocket and tied it on her head, she asked for a snapback, one of bartenders had one so they threw it for her to catch,

“Now, Bonny give us a longest possible piece of music you have babe! Hip-hop! Let us see how long my bro survives without throwing up!” Jane said as she rolled the long sleeves of grey t-shirt up,

“Oh! You don’t wanna do that Sis! I am out of your league!” Ace said taking out his pearl necklace, throwing off his T-shirt, he was sweaty too and he ruffled his own hair before giving thumbs up to Bonny…  

“No Shorty! I am out of your league!” yelled Jane and there were whistles and cheers,

“Okay boys, Old School tracks, enjoy!”

Bonny started with the ‘Low’, Ace and Jane were familiar with sound tracks, they started sliding, jumping, falling, locking arms and legs and popping them with beats, all were cheering and crowd was getting energetic as completion was getting more and more intense, they clapped when Ace and Jane did stunts they had not yet seen, they were tipsy but had good grip over whatever they were doing, it was captivating.

After full 3.5 minutes track Bonny mixed with another familiar track of the ‘shake your pom pom’ then suddenly mixed with another track and then continued mixing, finally Ace’s hands gave out and he slipped down when he was spinning, but Jane continued as she was too busy in her own dancing to notice that Ace had stopped, after another minute Ace started clapping and cheering her along with others, Jane stopped in between her slide and jumped near him instead and hugged him as they both went laughing their heads off and all people got on the dance floor to congratulate Jane, they tossed Ace and Jane in air as celebration.

\-----------

“Man, I am so tired!” Jane said as she slumped on Ace,

“Me too!” Ace said supporting her thin frame,

“I am hungry!” Jane yelled like Luffy does and Luffy yelled the same from the dance floor, Sanji who was too busy watching dancing completion that he had forgot about the barbecue but Jason had it all under control, he had other cooks take of food and all needed items,  

\-------------

They gathered around the bonfire, Jane and Ace were too sweaty and too tired to bother themselves with chairs to seat on, they were enjoying cool sand and chilly breeze soothing their feet and hands as they sat near each other facing the bonfire from some distance between warmth and them, their backs at the sea, Zoro and Marco were seated on sand too, Zoro was other side of Jane and Marco sat on other side of Ace, all other boys joined them sitting on sandy shore, girls were seated on chairs as they enjoyed food and drinks,

“I need a beer!” Jane said and Marco gave her an amused glance,

"you still need more?" asked Marco,

“Hey, I think you have enough already for the day!” Kaya said worriedly,

“Relax Kaya, I know I still have an appetite for small beer, I am not a drunk. It’s just for today, I feel so exhausted!” Jane said making puppy face,

“You should know better Jane-ya! She is just worried!” Law said as he sat near Zoro,   

“Yeah! Kaya is such a darling!” Jane said smiling at her but taking bottle from Jason’s hand, she noticed him looking at Marco when she glanced at him and then she looked at Marco, he was talking with Bonny.

‘Jason, I guess Marco is right about this. If he is, I am going to help him.’ Jane thought and smirked herself,

“What happened Capt’n? Something going on with Jason and Marco?” Zoro asked as he nudged Jane’s arm, her arm slipped of the sand and she went off balance, Zoro caught her by putting an arm around her and made her rest against his side,

“Sorry!” Jane said trying to pull away but he stopped her,

“It’s okay, I like this! Please stay like this, if you are comfy! Tell me about them, what you guys are up to?” whispered Zoro and Jane got settled against ZOro's side.

“I think Jason’s got a thing for Marco! I mean Marco claimed to be his lover from long back before he…you know got kidnapped.” Jane whispered for only Zoro to hear, Sanji was glaring at Zoro and Jane, but he was nowhere near their line of site for them to get disturbed by his glares,

“What? Really? I mean Marco is teasing him but I thought he was just pulling pranks!” Zoro whispered back as she was quite close to him, their sides were connected and Zoro moved a little so that their thighs were also touching now, Jane did not pull out, nor did she move but relaxed against him, slumping her tired form against his firm one, Zoro still had her sweatshirt hanging on one of his shoulders,

“Marco and I had gone for walk earlier, when he told me that he had caught Jason checking him out many times right since we boarded the flight, they know each other from somewhere and Marco had tried to get his attention back then too. That is why he teases him like that, apparently Marco likes him, but Jason is being way too stubborn.” Jane whispered, 

“And so are you!” Zoro said quickly,

Zoro’s words sunk in slowly and Jane realized what Zoro had said but opted to keep mum, Zoro thought she would pull out and he would lose the warmth of her lean body against his but she did not move at all. After some minutes, as they kept quiet and listened to other people talk,

“Sorry! Hey dude, talk to me!” Zoro said to Jane as he moved his neck to take a look at her face, her expressions were unreadable,

“You should not apologize this much Zoro, especially not when you are not at fault, I told you last time too!” Jane whispered sadly,

“I thought I sent you into another dimension again! I am glad you are okay!” Zoro blurted out as he dared to move his hand, brought it back to hold her at her waist, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to pull her in his lap but instead he placed it on sand behind her and gave a defeated sigh as he could not muster a courage to do what he desired,

“What? What another dimension?” Jane said as she noted that his hand was touching her back diagonally, she leaned in some more and put some of her weight on his hand as she looked up from her slumped form to his face,

“It had happened twice before, I say something and you freeze there or you just go into some weird past-memories-recovery-mode and you stop paying attention whatever is in front of you. You almost jumped off the cliff that day remember! I was so damn scared for you!” Zoro whispered looking into those vibrant blue orbs, they seemed so distant and dead now,

“You too think I am freak?” Jane asked in sad voice, Jane was pulling out from him, he quickly grab hold of her waist as he moved his arm to surround her form, 

“What? No! Who said anything about being freak? And do you think I am less of a freak, C’mon, who in whole world has green hair Jane, look at me??” Zoro asked as he tried to secure her against him by placing his left hand around her waist, he felt her stiffen at his touch, his hand around her waist, she got stiff for a second as they looked in each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity before Ace pushed her towards Zoro with his palm on her left arm, her face went closer to his and that snapped her out, she cleared her throat and moved showing her intention to stand up,

‘I can’t believe I messed this up!’ Zoro thought as he closed his eyes and released his grip over Jane's waist to let her stand up,

"I gotta go Zoro!" whispered Jane before she moved to stand up,

“I need to pee, I gotta go guys! And I may not come back! So don’t worry, Bye!” she said as she stood up and ran to the Manor never to show up on beach again,

Ace mouthed 'What happened' to Zoro with questions in his eyes, Zoro simply shrugged and shook his head as Jane walked away from beach,

\--------

Jane sat on the bed in her room, looking at the big photo hanging of the wall; the Photo had Shanks, herself and Mihawk together standing on the very beach she was two hours before, looking like a perfect family, she sighed at the thought of the time back when she had asked Shanks to come with her for this vacation. Then her gaze traveled all along the room, there were many photos, few of them had Lucci and Jane together, she had thought of throwing them away or burning the photos but she could not as she thought burning them wouldn’t erase her memories,

Her eyes lingered on Lucci’s face, photo showed them standing where Lucci had Jane in his arms as he had taken that selfie and they both had Vampire teeth on, it was Kaku’s birthday and they had decided to celebrate the vampire themed party,

_‘You know, if vampires look as hot as you then I don’t mind giving up all of my blood to get your mouth on my skin!” praised Lucci as he licked the base of Jane’s neck, she shivered at the touch of warm wet organ on her sensitive skin._

_“You still act as we are new to each other, you still have to impress me or flirt with me to be with you!” mocked Jane smirking,_

_“I can act like I want with my girlfriend! You should be happy I am seducing you, flirting with you! Girls like that you know!” he said in husky voice, tracing her spine seductively, she took sharp breath in,_

_“Lucci, we are at the party. There are people around!" Whisper yelled Jane,_

_They stood a little away from all the public in the garden where the party was organized, she wore a beautiful red dress and her hair were done up beautifully, she looked stunning in that red gown, her neck was accessible to Lucci as he stood close to his girlfriend, right hand around her waist. She gave a shiver as he licked her neck again, she tried to get away but she knew that resisting would only make him become that much more aroused and he won’t hold back as he never mind displays of affection in public; there were many people in there, few of which were continuously stealing glances at lovely young couple,_

_“Lucci, people are staring!” Jane said trying to push him back,_

_“Obviously they are. You look enchanting in red, my love! You are very irresistible.” he said as he made her turn and look at him,_

_“I am feeling so awkward, this gown and these heels; I am going make a fool out of myself. Lucci I already have enough to handle right now, don’t make me more uncomfortable!”  Jane said with panic in her voice,_

_“I told you, you look very beautiful and you are doing fine. I won’t let you fall, okay! Forget about those heels, have got you baby! Just relax!” Lucci said as he looked at her with amused eyes, she sighed and leaned on him but before she could put her head in his chest he caught her chin in his other hand and captured her lips, she widen her eyes as sudden assault on her lips,_

_“Mnngh!” she protested but she already had started melting in his kiss,_

_“Hey you two, get a room already!” came a irritated voice from behind Lucci, Jane’s face went as red as her dress, Lucci did not let her go till he was out of breath, he gave a hum in satisfaction before he pulled away and turned to find Paulie and Tilestone standing there flush faced,_

_“Oh you two! Must you disturb us?” Lucci said irritatingly as he just did not kiss Jane in front of all folks there,_

_“You know, you could have waited till you get home, you pigeon idiot!” Paulie yelled at Lucci,_

_“Ya! You should be careful, but I don’t think Jane minds!” Kaku said as he came near the place where all four of his friends were standing, he smiled at Jane still standing with deep red blushing face,_

_“Birthday boy! Why this theme? Vampires? Seriously for birthday party?” Jane asked,_

_“Jane that was Lucci’s idea, Party is party. It is not like I know many people in here, these are all from my office anyways. They all agreed to the theme so I thought why not! I wanted you to meet Pauli and Tileston, but I guess you already know each other.” Kaku said, Jane looked at Lucci who was smirking back at her,_

_“I know them, they work at the Galley la!  I happen to know their boss!” said Jane awkwardly._

_“Enjoy your time Jane, these people are not going to bother you two you know!” said Kaku winking as he took Paulie and Tilestone away to meet some of his friends,_

_“Good, now I have you all to myself again!” said Lucci smirking menacingly,_

_“I should have known, you just wanted to see me with these wired teeth and all this dress and stuff as I denied this all that day, didn’t you? I hate Red color!” Jane said under her breath, narrowing her eyes on him,_

_“C’mon, It is nothing like that! you should look at yourself baby, Red definitely suits you!" Lucci said as he kept grinning like a mad man,_

A breeze from open door of balcony, made the curtains rustle and the ‘windchime’ gave a soothing sound that snapped Jane out from that memory, she closed her eyes and sighed, she got up and took all those photos and placed them in drawer. She took her guitar and went to balcony, sat on the railing as she leaned her back against the wall, played some random notes before closing her eyes and a melody came out of the strings, it was slow and sad.

\----------

Zoro heard some chiming, ‘metal may be!’ he thought,

‘Is that a wind chime? Yeah! It must be’ thought Zoro as he sat on the floor leaning his back against the structure of stones that supported the wide railing in the balcony of his room in the manor, he had left the group at the beach after waiting for Jane for half hour, he had an idea that she might not come back the way she had left,

‘She is there in the next room, I just have to go and knock, but what am I gonna say? Why is this so hard?’ Zoro thought and sighed,  

He was gawking at her balcony as he thought of Jane, suddenly Jane came out with guitar in her hands, she sat on railing at the opposite side of his room was, he saw playing some random notes and then soon the music made sense, it was sad and lonely. Zoro also knew the tune, he knew what she was playing and he was good at drums so he knew music. After she stopped playing and she started staring at sky, Zoro stood up from the spot and stared at her,

She noticed him staring at her from corner of her eye before turning her face to look at him, expressions on her face changed a little bit, she looked uneasy, she waved her hand to say ‘hi’, he waved back, she came closer to the side where his balcony was,

Zoro gestured with his hand asking to visit her as he mouthed ‘can I come?’ to her.

She nodded and gestured with her hands him to jump from his balcony to hers as she smirked and leaned on the railing, Zoro blinked at her few times before her put his cell in his pocket and put bottle of Sake down on the floor, there was quite a large distance between the two balconies and jump was literally impossible, both were at equal heights and were on second floor, Zoro stood up on railing, Jane held her hands in cross so as to tell him to stop doing anything reckless.

Zoro mouthed ‘relax’ and thought for a minute as he looked around and walked to the wall side, using building structure and some pipe lines he made it half way to her balcony, now there was no pipeline and no protruding structure to catch or to climb on to, but he tuned his neck to look back, he spotted a tree had grown a branch at some feet distance away from his current position,

“No, Zoro, don’t jump on the tree. Go back the way you came, that is too risky you idiot!” yelled Jane as she quickly found out where Zoro was looking at.

Zoro was facing the wall as his hands held him in place while they had grabbed at stony structure of wall and one of his feet was on the pipe, while other left hanging, that was a backwards jump with no margin to take a leap to make the jump, he tried but he could not tuned on his feet, if he had slipped and did not make the jump, he had to fall from considerable height that might have lead to serious injury or may loss of limb. 

“Zoro, just go back, don’t jump, it’s a no-go, you listening to me you dumbass!” Jane said in panic, but Zoro did let go of one of his hand as he balanced his weight on one and turned to jump and grabbed the tree branch with one hand. He made the jump somehow, however branch could not take his weight and it cracked broke, he slipped further down but grabbed another branch and secured his footing on another.

“You frigging Idiot!” Jane yelled again,

He climbed up the tree some more and grabbed neighboring tree, then acquired higher grounds and then it was piece of cake, he jumped directly into her balcony,

“Voila!” he said as he landed and smiled at her, she hurried closer to him and punched his nose, which started bleeding, Zoro hold his nose in his hand,

“Owww! That hurt captain!” his voice came strange as he had grabbed his bloody nose,

“Who told you to take such unnecessary risks?” Jane yelled as she went inside and brought a napkin out to clean the blood,

“Stupid, let me do that!” she said as she pushed his hands away and gently wiped clean the blood, she hold it on his face as blood was still dripping out, her other hand was cupping his face, actually holding it in place, he smiled at the touch of her hand on his china and his cheek, he like the way it felt,

“Idiot! You know how bad it would have been to fall and to lose your leg or arm or may be life if you had hit your head! Hold that napkin! _Boke_!” Jane said as she looked at his arm that got badly bruised and scratched as that tree branch had broken all of a sudden, he gripped the napkin and stared at her with amused eyes,

“Jane!” he said to grab her attention, to make her look at him, his voice was muffled but she did not look back to him nor did she reply, she moved his arm a little to take a better look at the wound and then checked another arm for injury, 

“Hey! Jane!” Zoro exclaimed,

This time also she did not look at him at all but turned on her heels and went inside again, she walked into another room and came out with a first aid kit, walked near the table and put it on the wooden surface as she opened the box, Zoro was still outside when she had expected him to come and sit inside room somewhere by now,

“You really that dumb or you hit your head too? Come in here you moron, we need to patch you up!” yelled Jane from inside.

Zoro was looking right at her face, he was still rooted to the same spot he was before she left, he did not move at all. Jane rolled her eyes and stomped for first two steps as she fought back an urge to grit her teeth, she went over him and grabbed his wrist of unwounded arm in her own hand to force him come inside but Zoro made his injured hand travel back to the railing to grab on to it as to nullify the force Jane applied to make him move,

“Jane, look at me.” demanded Zoro softly. She left his hand at the sound of his voice, she stood straight for a minute, totally unmoving and then dropped her shoulders but did not turn back to look at him,

“I am sorry for being an ass, Zoro. It’s just we should not be close, definitely not this close. I know its little late to say this. I am sorry! ..................Fuck! I am such a mess! I let you do………I let you……” Jane stopped abruptly as her voice gave away. After a moment and a small sniffle,

“Zoro, I should not have encouraged you, I should not have kept seeing you, Shit! I should not have met you in the first place……I …….” She stopped again, her voice was shaky and tone was so low, her face was not visible but her reflection was clearly visible on the glass door.  Zoro swallowed thickly against the lump in his throat as he saw the pain of her broken heart on her face, his heart sank to his stomach, his fist clenched in frustration, he did not know what was going on and why Jane was saying such things all of a sudden,

‘Did she found out that I scared Jason off? Is that the reason she now hates me suddenly? That wasn’t that bad now was it? Or maybe it’s that stupid ero-cook! Did he tell her something? Did Ace say something, I can’t lose you Jane. What did I do to make you say such things, do you regret meeting me! Meeting you was best thing that happened to me after Kuina came back alive from that horrible coma. I already consider you as my soul mate, I wouldn’t stop loving you even of you don’t feel the same way about me but I at least need to tell you that I love you, so better now than never!’ Zoro thought and opened his mouth to speak but Jane spoke again, in very weak and low voice,

“Don’t you see it, I have wronged you! I am bad person Zoro, I kept seeing you because I feel good when you are around…..I am the worst person you will ever meet Zoro. I thought I would be just friends with you, I tried to be a friend but I don't know when you..when we got this close.......I am mess Zoro and I thought finding a friend like you might be good for me to get out of this mess, I am selfish, arrogant and I am rude. I had decided not to let anybody get closer to me, not more than my other friends are to me. Now ….now that we have come this close……… I don’t know what to do other than to act rude, I can’t be very close to you. I don’t have any strength to keep you at distance anymore.” Jane said as she looked at her feet, Zoro gave a sigh of relief as he heard her speak that,

“Then don’t. That is exactly what I am trying to do, I want to be closer to you, I want us to be more than just friends. And why you can’t be with me? What is wrong with me?” Zoro asked in his deep worried voice as he gently grabbed her arm and made her turn to face him. She looked him in eye for split second before looking away,

“It’s not you Zoro, nothing is wrong with you. It’s me! I can devastate your life! I am not good for you!” said Jane, Zoro opened his mouth for replying but

“If you are half the smart like what I think your are you would keep away from me, you idiot!” she almost yelled trying to scold but failing miserably as tear fell out from her eye, Zoro’s eyes went wide at her disturbed and sad emotional state, he had seen her tears before but never the expressions,

“Hey! Would you please let me decide what’s good for me?” Zoro asked as his hands slid down from her arm to rest on her waist, she was looking down at their feet, he brought her closer and bent down a little to bring his face down to be in the line of her sight, he felt her go stiff as her fist clenched and her expression going blank again as if she was putting up walls to hide her uneasiness from him,

“Now, tell me Je! Can I call you Je? A cool nick-name, don’t you think? So, why you broke my nose even when you only asked me to jump in your balcony in the first place?” Zoro said as he went a little closer,

“I was just…it was …….Zoro I was..” Jane could not frame sentence anymore, slight blush appeared on her pale cheeks, uneasiness due to sudden closeness was clear in her cation

‘Fuck! Is that blush? So, you act all tough and roam around being a tomboy but you do blush like sweet little girl, I never thought I would wish it but I do wish to see you in proper women’s outfit Jane! You are so uniquely beautiful!’ Zoro thought, 

“I am sorry for your nose Zoro!” whispered Jane blushing darker as he was quite close and his hand was on her waist, Zoro leaned forward to bring his face near her ear,

“Naah! It was worth it! Now I am standing just in balcony outside the bedroom of my dream girl!” Zoro whispered in her ear as he enveloped her in his arms, putting his arms around her protectively, she drew in a sharp breath, he felt her go stiff in his embrace, she did not hug back but stood like a frigging statue,

“C’mon captain, a hug won’t do that bad!” Zoro whispered in her ear, he felt her shiver at his voice, Zoro smiled slightly at her reaction,

She slowly but mechanically put her arms around his bulky and bigger torso. She relaxed after few seconds and hugged back for real closing her eyes and gripping t-shirt on his back. Feeling her arms tightening around him, Zoro closed his eyes before he crushed her in his chest and gave a sigh of contentment, he gave a low throaty hum as he took in her scent as he nosed into her soft blonde hair, his lips were actually millimetres away from her neck, there was no smell of the perfume now, she had taken a shower and had applied no product that would alter her own body scent, Zoro was happy that Jane was finally hugging him back.

‘This scent is driving me crazy, everything about you is so extreme and intense, I am doing all I can to hold back and not to kiss your neck right now!’ yelled Zoro in his mind.

‘I am going to take it slow and easy! I want you to feel me Jane. I want to do it right!’ thought Zoro,

He was exactly as tall as her, so he felt her boobs right on his chest and that thought now made him blush, she had relaxed her head against his own, he felt her soft hair tickling his ear and neck, he felt his skin tingle where there was contact between them,

“It’s far better that I had imagined!” Zoro whispered as he tightened his arms around her,

“Imagined?” she whispered in confusion though it was pretty clear what he was saying but Jane was not thinking at all, she was overwhelmed by the way he held her, there was pure, innocent but passionate love, no possessiveness, no desperate want, no aggressive touches, no over-protectiveness, no bodily need. Zoro’s arms were on her back and waist and did not wander or even never felt to try to wander anywhere else, he held her firmly but gently, not like messily Luffy and Ace, not like her overprotective dad, not like her extremely possessive ex-boyfriend; Zoro's touch was totally different, she felt like what she had before at the day Zoro had hugged her from back when they were on bike,

“Yeah! I kinda imagined how would it be like when you would be hugging me back if you know what I mean. Actually, after that day of ride and the race, I can’t stop thinking about you, I can’t just go back now! I was kind of thinking about us a lot.” Zoro said in deep husky voice, his voice traveling through his chest and she felt tingling at her chest as he spoke, then she realized her breasts were touching his chest where she did not even had the wraps she always had around her chest to make it look like a boy's chest and she blushed darker at the thought,

“You did? Do…… do guys do ……..do that kind of stuff? I …I didn’t know! You actually tried to imagine thi…..this, me……. hugging you??” Jane whispered back trying not to shutter but failing,

“Yes, I did and I don’t know about other guys and if they do this or not, I don’t care. But Jane let me tell you, my imagination sucks, this is hundred times better than that” Zoro said snorting, that made her go relaxed, she smiled while closed her eyes relaxed as she gripped the fabric of his t-shirt as if that was her last hug and she would miss Zoro,

She chuckled sadly and pulled away,

“Come on in, let us tend that wound!” She grabbed his hand and made him come in.

\-----------

Zoro was getting his arm bandaged as he was looking around the room, he liked the way it was, old fashioned room packed with all knew high tech instruments and gadgets, he noticed some knocked down photo frames, his gaze was travelling on various photos hanging off wall and finally the very one he was sitting near to,

“Shit Je!!! this is Mihawk, Dracule Mihawk! You are with him in this photo? This other guy, the red head, he was there at the airport! Is he Shanks??” Zoro said as he suddenly stood up from his position on chair as he was sitting, position which was at some awkward angle with the photo he just did not notice it by now. His reaction was amusing, Jane hummed before she chuckled at his statement, as she put everything back in the medic kit and shut the box close,

“I will let you in on yet another little secret Zoro, Mihawk is my adoptive elder brother!” Jane said as she turned back and went away to put the box in its place, when she came back Zoro was looking at her with amazed face,

“He is the one that saved you and adopted you?” Zoro asked, almost yelled,

“Yes, he is, now chill. Don’t get intimidated by his look and all, he is really nice guy okay!” Jane said,

“Shit!” Zoro said and dropped himself on chair as he closed his eyes, Jane made ‘what’s wrong’ face before she went over the balcony to bring her guitar back inside, ZOro still looked surprised, 

“What! Why are you acting like you just found about your wife’s another marriage?” Jane said in amused tone and Zoro snorted at her statement, she played some random notes again, Zoro relaxed in his chair and slumped on it as he leaned his head on headrest, he turned his head and looked at her,

She played a nice melody again for few minutes before putting it away and relaxing herself in her bed as she turned her head to look at Zoro to find him staring at celling eyes fixed on some invisible target in air, he appeared to be thinking,

“Something wrong?” asked Jane,

“No, you don’t understand! Mihawk is my goal, to defeat him is my dream, I told you about swords right?” Zoro said looking back at her,

“For real? You want to defeat him? He is hell of a swordsman, World’s Best actually, I am trying since ages! He just won’t get defeated!” Jane said casually.

“Lemme guess, he is the master swordsman! He is your sensei!” Zoro said as matter of fact,

“Yup, he is but I am still no good, I told you I like hand to hand combat more!” Jane said looking back at him,

“You did. Man, you have two sword masters train you! You are lucky! But you know what Jane, your brother is my rival!” Zoro said smirking at her,

“Oh! Good, he would like you then! And even if he doesn’t it’s your problem.” She said as she stuck her tongue out at him, he chuckled at her childish facial expressions,

“I had already fought him once you know, but lost!” Zoro said,

“Figures! It’s wonderful and appreciable that you are still alive.” she replied shrugging,

“Yeah hardly!” Zoro snorted,

“You up for some more beer, Sake boy? You still hungry? I am calling Jason to get me something to eat!” Jane said as she sat up on bed,

“Jane, you should probably know something” Zoro said in serious tone, she looked at him confused, he got up from chair, went over her and crouched down in front of her taking her hands in his,

“Jane, on our way here, in the fight you had fallen asleep while were watching movie. Jason came with your coffee but he flipped out seeing you asleep…..and………um….. leaning on me and started ranting some stuff about trust and loyalty and that somebody betrayed you so I pushed for some information, he said he didn’t know any details but he got sacred of me I guess. Jane, I did not mean to interrogate him but I could help but ask what did he know, so that is that!” Zoro said, Jane was looking at him with a blank face again, she made him stand up from that kneeling position as she felt it awkward and made him sit on bed beside her,

“He did now? Good! Looks like he can make threats! He is good guy but I can tell he must have given you hard time asking your true purpose. The thing is nobody other than my brother and Shanks are allowed in that chamber. It’s like my private chamber or something, I never had friend travel with me like that, mind you never before and moreover I never sleep during flight, that’s the whole purpose for putting that cabinet in there, it’s pretty rare for me to sleep in there so he might have had acted little too defensive to sound actually offensive, just forgive him” Jane said,

“No, I think he should forgive me for scaring the devil out of him, I think after that he went to Law.” Zoro said thinking back at the face Jason made when he was afraid,

“Poor Jason!” Jane snorted. Zoro chuckled at the memory,

\-----

Jason brought some food and beer for them again. They sat in balcony on the floor while they ate, enjoying the ocean moist wind and taking about random stuff. She had too much alcohol in her system due to the drink and dance competition, she fell asleep on his shoulder while they were chatting; he lifted her off ground and put her in her the bed and tucked her in blanket. He went over couch and slept in there covering himself in an old fashioned homemade quilt he found on lying on her couch.

 


	10. Lucci...........

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro wants to learn Dancing! :P  
> Lucci is back in grand line city! Any guesses for What?  
> A Lemon....Lucci's memories of Jane.....:- Lucci X Jane! Enjoy! 
> 
> In present....on Rosolt Island, Jane and Zoro are getting closer!
> 
> A bit of Ice dancing in chapter start!

 

“Wow! This is phenomenal!” exclaimed Bonny as she skid on slippery surface,

“Yupeee! Look at me!” Chopper exclaimed as he slid on ice,

“Chopper looks in good spirit! He is attached to snowy things! That figures!” Sanji said as he offered his hand to Porche and that pair also got onto the icy surface that was prepared for the ice skating.

It was raining outside, Jane had Jason arranged for Ice skating in one of the buildings of premises, afternoon was spent decorating tree and whole mansion for Christmas,

Everybody was enjoying skating on ice, specially chopper and Nami,

“Jane, we can dance in here too!” Ace yelled,

“Yeah! Good idea, let’s have some music and booze!” Nami yelled, Jane smiled at them giving them thumbs up, Jason immediately got off his seat and started walking out of the place for arranging the things,

“And chocolates!” Chopper added, Jane chuckled at the cute boy,

"Of course Chopper, Chocolates too!" said Jane,

It was like a big auditorium, there was big wooden platform actually and big screen on wall on the same side but other walls were empty, the area was tall, big and well illuminated, but sealed and enclosed from outside world, there were lights of many colors and sizes hanging out of roof, the circular area below the ceiling had been frozen to create the snowy platform for Ice skating, there was three and half feet wall surrounding the icy surface and a thin fence built out of material they did not know about. The temperature inside was maintained to snow point, it felt like they were in winter island, only lacked actual snowing!

\----

Music was good, after enjoying some of skating Brook had excused himself to the Music station, he sat on the stage, enjoying music watching people dance, Jason along with one of one of the helpers sat on the chairs a bit away from whole group of people, prepared to take care of whatever was needed and waiting for instructions if any from Jane,

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were enjoying far too much to pay attention to anybody, others were dancing, singing and talking with each other, Law had charmed Boa into dancing or skating with him, Ace and Nami were dancing with skates on so were Vivi-Cohza and Sanji-Porche, others just skid, swirled and slid, Kaya and Perona were seated on the small wall, watching their friends as they enjoyed their coffee and snacks, Tashigi also sat on wall but just a little away from everybody, alone….

Zoro, Jane, Marco and Bonny were chatting and having beer as they slowly skid on ice,  

“C’mon Marco, lets dance!” Bonny said tugging on Marco’s hand,

“Umm….. I am not sure about this dancing!” Marco said as he stole a glance at Jason,

“C’mon handsome, You will be fine! C’mon!” she said dragging him away from Jane and Zoro,

“Hey! You two, you also have some fun okay!” yelled Bonny and giggled at Zoro’s wary face, girls had figured out that he was into Jane by now, he also had been caught gawking at her by Nami and Vivi many times so they all were enjoying teasing him far too much, he also had asked Vivi to buy a specific item that he wanted to give to Jane as a surprise to Jane on the ball night and he had no choice but to ask girls for their help and they made sure to extract information about his thing for Jane and Nami had just asked him to talk to her as if she was Jane, Nami asked him to flirt at Tashigi assuming that Tashigi was Jane and he had really failed miserably letting all girls have fun and they all pull lot of fun and pranks on him in return to do him a favor,

“Bonny looks far too much happy! Did I miss something Zoro? Was she teasing you?” asked Jane giving him ‘What’s going on?’ face,

“No, not at all. She is just like that! It’s all totally normal.” Zoro managed to reply but awkwardness was evident in his voice,

“Shit, it’s empty! Hey I am gonna go and get another. You want one?” Jane said shaking the bottle in her hand slightly, as she asked Zoro,

“Umm, yeah! Umm……hey Je……wait a sec….…can….can you teach me how to do it! I mean….this ice dancing….I mean it’s easy to skate in straight line but that swirl and jump you did a while ago was amazing!” Zoro said and he grabbed her hand gently,

“Yeah sure, that’s easy! Just lemme put the bottles away!” said Jane pulling her hand out of his while taking his bottle, but he just pulled her to him, took her own bottle from her hand and went to put them away by himself which had earned a snort from Jane and a comment of “Typical!” was thrown at him,

\----

Zoro spent good deal of time with Jane as she taught him, gave him instructions as she moved and sometimes grabbed him by hand to show how to do it, many times she balanced off his weight and supported him from falling down,

“Geez! I suck at it!” said Zoro as he put his hands on knees bending down, he was sweating in that cold environment, he really was putting his best …

“No, you are doing good! It needs practice Zo, it’s not like you can learn overnight you know!” Jane said as they now slid slowly to the wall to sit at,

“Yeah! I sure am beat!” said Zoro,

“Let’s sit there!" Jane said pulling him by his hand, he smiled looking at her hand on his wrist but when he looked up at her face she was looking at Tashigi and waving, Zoro furrowed his eyebrows,

"Zo! Why is the beauty sitting alone when I am here? C’mon lets go there” Jane said changing her route making Zoro follow her,

“Oi pervert! Quit it!” Zoro protested but Jane already had took off, he sighed and followed,

\-----------

“Hello beautiful? Why you are sitting alone like this darling?” asked Jane playfully, Jane threw an arm over her shoulders pulling her closer, far too much closer that made Tashigi blush slightly, Zoro shook his head as he sat near Jane on the other side, 

Jane had been doing this for a while now, she acted like a guy around girls, praising them, wooing or swooning at other girls and occasionally making them uncomfortable by acting touchy, especially towards Boa, Marguerite and Tashigi,

“It’s…..it’s nothing Jane. You …you were…am… amazing!” Tashigi said warily, trying to sound normal,

“Oh! Hardly! You saw Ace and Nami! They are amazing! Look!” Jane said casually as she moved her eyeballs to look at Tashigi's face, Jane caught her stealing glance at herself, more like trying to glance of the one seated near Jane, looking across her, Jane followed her gaze to Zoro who was relaxing and asking Jason for beer, gesturing by his hand. Zoro looked perfect in that white t-shirt, he had removed his pullover as he was sweaty and that t-shirt kind of revealed how well-toned his torso was, Zoro looked hot and it seemed that Tashigi could not stop looking at him. Jane smirked quickly before looking back at Tashigi’s blush red face….

'Cool! so Tash likes Zo, why not dance eh?' thought Jane and smiled mischievously,

“Hey Tash, you wanna dance?” Asked Jane as she put her arm around Tashigi’s waist, Tashigi gave a gasp, that made Zoro look at them,

‘What the hell!! She did it again! Why she dose that? Does she really like girls! Nah! I don't think so! Shit! She is a handful! and if she does really like girls, that’s gonna be a problem, lesbo problem! But Law said she did it in the school too, just to pull pranks, I mean she did it with shy boys too! Holy Shit, is Tashigi blushing because Jane! Fuck! Tashigi’s face looks amazing, should have taken picture!’ thought Zoro, amused by Jane’s antics,

“Um..no, I am okay!” Tashigi shuttered, trying to pull out from Jane’s grip,

“Oi Zoro, why don’t you put your newly learned skills to some tests eh? Have a dance with beautiful woman we have here?” asked Jane to Zoro, narrowing her eyes on him giving him a devilish smirk,

“Wait! What? I don’t have any skills, you only said that we don’t learn overnight! And what makes you think that Tashigi can dance? You know why she is sitting here and not dancing?” said Zoro, he actually sounded little offended. Jane raised her eyebrow at him, he sighed in defeat giving her tired face and cleared his throat after a moment,

“Ahem,…I mean, I can’t take you up on that offer Jane!” said Zoro in low voice.

“Really, you don’t know what you are missing Mr. I-think-I-am-too-smart-to-be-enjoying!” said Jane giving him cold look. He just smirked at her comment.

“What! Got nothing to say Sherlock?” asked Jane narrowing her eyes on him again,

“I do. I am too-hot-to-be-enjoying!” said Zoro smirking at her,

“Please!” said Jane smirking back. Tashigi just did not understand what was going on, why were they sharing such looks at each other, their body language and their way to talking was making her feel a little left out,

“C’mon sweetheart, let’s make him jealous and lets show him that you are ten times hotter than him!” said Jane as she pulled Tashigi closer to her,

“No…no…I am okay…..really!” said Tashigi looking down at her feet, Jane stood up and crouched down in front of her to put her face right in front of Tashigi’s, she went closer till their nosed were centimetres apart as she looked at her very keenly and her eyes never left Tashigi’s, Tashigi held her breath in as she got panicked by the closeness. What they did not know that Zoro had been staring at them like his life depended on it,

“No, you are not okay! C’mon babe, just give it a chance and I assure you that you are not going regret it!” Jane said she got down on one knee and picked up pair of skates those were laying around there near the wall, fixed them on Tashigi’s feet with her hands in spite of reluctant protest Tashigi was doing, after that Jane got up and offered her hand for Tashigi to take,

“Would you honour my wish Tashigi? Come! Let us have this dance!” said Jane in smoky voice that made Zoro widen his eyes slightly,

“Jane!” Tashigi panicked in weak voice but put her hand in Jane’s none the less. Jane gave her a very genuine smile and pulled Tashigi off her seat to her chest, Tashigi squeaked as she went off balance and instinctively grabbed hold on Jane’s shoulder, her face showed pure panic as she struggled on keeping her feet on slippery surface, she had her hands on Jane’s chest now. After some seconds, Tashigi’s eyes went wide, she looked at Jane’s face with surprise clearly written on her face. Tashigi was stilled at lack of soft flesh on her chest, Tashigi did not feel Jane’s boobs but a hard surface, there was some elevation but definitely not soft boobs that she was expecting, she felt heard chest like it were of some man,

‘Is't Jane a girl, I mean twice only she had worn something that would show the shape of her curves and she did have them. What in the God’s name happened to her, how does she hide them? Does she…. she really has boobs or is she a tran..?’ Tashigi was thinking hard as she looked at Jane’s chest where she must have had her boobs,

“Hey, what is it? You don’t feel them do you? I do have them don’t worry, I am as normal a girl as you are though nowhere near as beautiful as you. There is trick to hide them that well and I would tell you if you want to know. Come now!” Jane said smirking at her,

Tashigi managed an awkward smile at Jane but spoke in uneasy voice,

“Jane I can’t. I mean haven’t done it ever, I can’t skate okay!” Tashigi whispered panicking as she looked at Jane, tilting her head up to look at Jane, as Jane was a head or more taller than her,

“Don’t you worry, I will take care of you! Just follow my lead!” Jane secured her firmly, crushing Tashigi on to Jane’s body and gave her reassuring smile, as Jane tightened an arm around her waist and Tashigi’s face went red from blush as she felt Zoro’s gaze on them,

“But Jane!” whispered yelled Tashigi, Jane just balanced Tahsigi’s clumsy body helplessly clung to hers and bent down to speak in her ear, Jane's lips near Tashigi's neck, the closeness and her warm breath fanning her skin made Tashigi grip Jane’s cloths even more and she stopped the shaking as her feet stop moving. Then she realized that Jane had lifted her off just ever so slightly to be in air mere centimetres above ground.

“Never been held by a man before?” Jane whispered in Tashigi’s ear, raising an eyebrow, Zoro was looking at Jane’s face making ‘What is wrong?’ face, she just winked at him and smiled, he just chuckled at her and then shook his head taking beer bottle from Jason’s hand and showing it to Jane,

Tashigi shook her head saying ‘No’ to answer Jane’s question,

“Don’t worry sweetheart! I promise that you won’t feel that you are being held by another girl” Jane said in voice that sent shivers down shorter girl, Zoro was more than surprised to hear that smoky voice of Jane’s. He mouthed ‘Wow’ to Jane and then smirked, Jane winked at him and mouthed ‘This is how you get a girl!’ he gave her thumbs up.

Tashigi took a sharp breath in as Jane’s mouth went closer to her neck again threatening to touch her but in fact it never did, Tashigi felt Jane’s breath on her skin, fanning her raven stands a little, Zoro looked at her and smirked at her antics, Jason was fighting off his laughter,

“That is……. until you fall for me enough to try to feel my lips or if try to find a penis in my pants!” Jane said quickly giving Tashigi a playful wink.

Zoro choked on his beer and Jason snickered as he scooted away from them, 

“Jane!” Tashigi yelled at her going beet red!

“Sorry darling! That was a odd” said Jane looking at Zoro, he had ‘what the fuck?’ face that she enjoyed watching more than his smirking face,

“Now my love, shall we?” Jane said looking at Tashigi, making her narrow her eyes on Jane, Jane smiled sweetly and dragged her away from the wall,

Jane made Tashigi release her grip on Jane, put some distance between them but kept Tashigi’s hands in her own, balancing her weight perfectly as an when necessary she gave a slight push or a gentle pull on Tashigi’s hands, sometimes catching her by waist, sometimes touching her on hips, grabbing her arm or hand. This all was making Tashigi more self-conscious every minute they spent sliding on that icy surface,

“Jane! Don’t let go!” yelled Tashigi as she was desperately trying to balance her weight,

“Don’t worry babe, this is very much required distance, not that I want to let go of such a beautiful flower, now do I?” Jane exclaimed,

“Are you competing Sanji? Geez!” yelled Ace as Jane passed by him and Nami, having Tashigi balanced in her arms,

“Oi, I heard that!” huffed Sanji,

“Me too! That hurt my ears Ace!” exclaimed Zoro,

“Seriously Jane, what are you doing? Taking our chances away!” said Marco smirking at Ace, Bonny gave a small laugh at Tashigi’s awkward posture,

“Damn right! Jane quit it!” exclaimed Ace playfully, as he threw a glare at his kid sister,

“Well, we have got number on our side boys. Somebody is always left alone when we get into pairs, 9 boys and 10 girls, so Jane is doing a favour anyway.” Said Nami as she turned back from her position to face Ace,

“Oi, that does not solve the problem, she does that and a guy is left out! Look at poor Zoro!” Ace replied,

“Shuttup! I opted out!” yelled Zoro from where he seated,

Jane pulled Tashigi slightly, she gracefully swirled and made her bent backwards putting her weight on Jane's hands, Jane balanced her as she almost lifted her diagonally except she intentionally left Tashigi’s feet down which made a slight pattern on as they made a circle around Marco and Bonny, that earned claps from some people, and cheers from others. Tashigi felt the awkwardness and the fear of slipping off or falling down slowly going away, she was following Jane’s movements now, responding to Jane’s small instructions, her body language, her eyes. She started getting what Jane’s slight touches and her instruction meant, she started responding her or even predicting her movements,

“Yeah! He had his chance anyway!” said Sanji making a funny face he shrugged,

“Whose side you are on hun Sanji!” Marco asked snorting a little, Bonny had her hands in Marco’s as they danced, she snickered at Sanji’s comment. Marco stole a quick glance at Jason and caught him looking right at him. Jason suddenly looked away and Marco gave a genuine smile, he was working Jason, Jane and Law had noticed it, even given permission to the same.

“Of course the one with my beautiful Porche san!” Sanji said making Porche blush a little, she giggled but pushed him away playfully. Tashigi relaxed a little as she was being handled perfectly well by Jane, she really felt like she was with some handsome tall boy, exactly what Jane had promised, Tashigi had now started to feel rhythm and music in her body, she felt tingling where Jane touched her to make her turn or to bent her, she felt that she is flying when Jane tossed her in air when she lifted Tashigi as if she weighed nothing ,

“My my, somebody sure is enjoying! That’s so cute!” chirped Perona,

“Damn it Jane!” yelled Ace,

“Don’t be jealous Ace! I can woo more girls that you could have ever managed to flirt with” Jane yelled back, making Boa, Bonny and Nami giggle.

“As if!” said Law smirking.

The Song changed suddenly, it was romantic, volume was low and it was slow, Tahsigi and Jane were on end of line, Jane suddenly tuned and made Tashigi crash on her, balancing her weight and taking one of her legs in her hands and wrap around her as she picked Tashigi up, her one feet drawing a circular line around patterns drawn by Jane’s skate, Tashigi had instinctively placed her hands around Jane’s neck,

“We are winning this thing today Tash, as I promised!” said Jane as she brought Tashigi close to her, her face inches away from Jane’s, Jane had her hand on her leg that was up Jane’s body and other hand on Tshigi’s back,

“Don’t be sacred okay, I have got you. Be free in the movements, flow with the song, you are doing great baby! We are going have to increase our speed and I am going to use our weight!” whispered Jane quickly,

Tashigi felt weightless as Jane made her swing, slide, swirl, balancing her weight effortlessly….she long since forgotten that she did not know how to skate, she was totally enjoying the dance and skating, she was smiling as the fear of falling had went out of her mind completely. She trusted Jane to take care of her, they were moving fast, faster than all of others, all the couple made some space for the new duo, dancing so beautifully on the ice, everybody scooted back to clear the area. Music changed again and Jane picked up pace even more as she had given a hint, the grace with which Jane moved them both, the flawless moves everybody was left stunned with.

Tashigi was so engrossed in the dance that she did not notice people staring at them; she did not see that nobody was dancing now, everybody just stood in place to look at them, to admire them and to enjoy the dance. By time music stopped, on a sweet silent note, when Jane had her forehead on Tashigi’s for a moment Tashigi suddenly gripped Jane’s Jacket in her fist and pulled Jane for a Kiss.

Zoro had been keenly looking at Jane the whole time but he shot up from his seat on the short wall and he looked wide eyed at Tashigi and Jane. He was about to shout at Tashigi when he saw her pulling Jane like that, he noticed Jane’s eyes going wide but a sudden clapping and cheers made Tashigi snap out of her action, she stopped at centimeters away from Jane’s lips. Tashigi felt so embarrassed, her face flushed with it, her lips still turned outward for a kiss, her eyes lidded halfway through, her hands fisting Jane’s Jacket, Jane’s hand around her form making her feel dizzy,

“You were awesome Jane! Tashigi! That was a hell of a performance!” chirped Nami, Tashigi left Jane’s Jacket and looked away from Jane, Jane relaxed her face and smiled at her softly,

“Hey! Don’t worry! It happens! Relax now, you were really awesome there! Thanks Tash!” whispered Jane in Tashigi’s ear bending downwards, as she still had hold on Tashigi’s waist,

“Literally out of the world!” said Sanji smiling sweetly at them,

“Simply beautiful! You did more than great for a non-skater Tashigi!” Bonny said smiling at both Jane and Tashigi as she made her way to them,

“No kidding!” said Marco,

“Huh! I lose again, you damned brat! I am gonna beat you in next one, just you wait!” Said Ace as he made his way to Zoro,

“Tough luck Ace! Your sis better than you!” Law said as he followed Ace, Ace gave a hearty laughter, Marco had also skated towards Ace and Zoro as all girls were going over to Jane and Tashigi to talk to them,

“What were you thinking Tashigi? I thought you liked guys when you told about your smoking hot crush!” Asked Bonny mockingly,

“Oh! That was all part of our plan to make boys jealous!” said Jane quickly covering up Tashigi’s embarrassment, Jane still had an arm around her waist, Tashigi felt sorry for what she was about to do there to Jane, she gave sorry face and guilty eyes to Jane as Tashigi looked up to meet Jane’s gaze, but Jane just gave her nice smile and quick wink.

“Really??? That would have knocked them dead! You were fantastic together, it was tough to take eyes off you two really” said Nami,

“Thanks babe! I wish I could have got chance to dance with you too!” Said Jane winking at her,

“What’s with you? Why you flirt at us?” asked Boa narrowing her eyes on Jane but smiling none the less, Boa was the girl, who got the most of Jane’s flirty attention anyways,

“Okay! Don’t break my heart my love. As you know, I am absolutely in love with all of you and I am single, I flirt at everybody! You, boys, all of you! No difference, I give fair chance to each and every one of you! Why do you think I brought all of you out here miles away from my parents for?” said Jane now sneaking her hand around Boa’s waist and pulling her closer too,

“Wow! You got some nerve!” said Kaya chuckling at Jane’s smug face,

“Fair chance? What about Law? I haven’t seen you flirt at him much!” said Perona,

“Oh! He is already taken, what’s fun in that! Plus he knows my way of pulling pranks, he won’t fall for my words anymore!” said Jane making a fake sad face,

“You should have seen her in high school! Boys used to shy away from her you know!” said Vivi as she giggled at the memory.

“Eww! That’s so insane!” exclaimed Nami.

“Only if I was a little taller I would have asked you to marry me Boa. Girl, you are such a rare beauty!” Jane said seductively as he brought her face near Boa’s. Boa was little taller than herself, hell Boa was taller than everybody there, she was taller than every boy there, nobody could match her height.

“Quit it Jane! She also has eyes for one person, she is never going say yes to you whatever you may do to impress her!” Chided Perona,

“Yeah! That is true!” said many of them,

“I thought so!” said Jane looking back at Tashigi as he felt more weight on her, Tashigi had gotten relaxed in her arms, it was as if Tashigi was trying to get her attention, Jane thought that she would pull away as soon as dance is over but it seemed that Tashigi seemed to like the contact and the touch,

‘Oh! Man! Does she like this now? Well I am not into this girl to girl business, I was just trying to make her feel awkward, seems like she has started liking this, better to pull away before she gets the wrong idea. Shit! If she does not react awkwardly then what’s the point in teasing! Goddamn it!’ Jane thought for a moment then let go of Tashigi’s waist as she pulled away her arm from her waist but Tashigi leaned on Jane’s sides and hold on to her arm to keep herself in place, that is in contact with Jane’s side and Jane sighed quickly but smiled at her anyway,

Jane looked at her narrowing her eyes a little, Tashigi looked right back at her smiling sweetly as she wrapped her hands around Jane’s slender arm for support but she smashed her boobs against her hand, then one of her hand travelled to Jane’s chest, it fisted and gestured knocking on her chest,

“So, what is the secret behind this tough chest Jane?” Tashigi asked wrapping her arms around Jane’s arm again,

“I am a man!” said Jane with blank face,

“What?” exclaimed all the girls that made all the boys look at them,

“Of course not my sweet flowers! I wear metallized clothed straps to make look like man’s chest. I almost have those on me at all the times, helps me to put up a boy’s disguise plus it’s easy to wear a Kevlar on it, I don’t even have to wear a bra and care about them bouncing and spilling off” Jane deadpanned,

“Idiot, they are meant to bounce and spill off! Geez! You are a girl for God’s sake! Tell me your size! I am gonna buy you a bikini!” exclaimed Nami,

“I am guessing two size lesser than yours babe, but don’t buy any bikini, I don’t wear those, I am no beautiful as you all are. I would like to hide my skin for now! I am okay the way I am dear!” Jane said as he trying to push away all the fingers those probed her chest to check what Tashigi had said earlier, they were all gasping at the hard chest they felt,

“You are beautiful, every girl is beautiful, you have to show some skin!” said Bonny, as she too felt Jane’s chest once more, Jane got pissed off at their behavior,

“Hey cut it out, it’s gross! Don’t touch me!” Jane yelled at prying hands, they all giggled and withdrawn their hands,

“Nope, you have to wear a bikini next time we go at beach!” Nami muttered under her breath as she made her resolve to make Jane wear a bikini.

 -------

They all sat in front of huge, beautifully decorated tree, manor was decorated with lights, candles, stars, small golden bells. There were various red and white Santa dolls placed throughout the house, many presents were placed near tree. Drinks and sweets were being served, everybody looked happy. Everybody gave each other gifts, this Christmas was proving good for Jane,

Jason gave Jane a handmade gift, a bracelet he made himself. Jason got a beautiful wrist watch from Jane where as she gifted all other servants in household with clothes she had made Jason bought, but his gift was bought by her beforehand. She gifted a book to David, her advisor; he in return gifted Jane a silky white scarf,  

Jason was in dining room, seated on one of chairs, room was lit with candles, the light was soothing, there was small Santa doll placed in center of large and long wooden table and many starts were placed all around table decorations, he had one of those in his hand as he dialed a number of phone and held phone close to ear. All others were either in hall where a Christmas tree was, party was held there or they were in kitchen and others working or serving. Jason was seated all alone for a change, he always had been roaming around house, working hard each day, completing every single demand of Jane’s friends and working his way through all the tasks. Now he was given some time off, he was trying to contact Shanks to give him Christmas greetings and report for today as Shanks kept asking him to keep him updated. He could not get Shanks on line, he sighed and placed the cell phone on table,

“Hey!” was a whisper in that dim lit room, Jason got stiff as he heard that voice, that voice had been stalking him, making him feel uneasy and jumpy, making him shiver at the anticipation of closeness, voice of a man that made him blush,

“Sir? You…you need…any … anything?” asked Jason warily, he tightened his grip on phone while other hand had clenched fist,

“Enough with that ‘Sir’ stuff babe. And Yes I want something, you know what I want Jas!” came reply in husky voice, near his ear, very close, warm breath on his skin making a thunder bolt serge through his nerves, his eyes went half lidded, his pupils dilated, his nickname….that had not been used for a while, his heart skipped a beat while he thought of his long time crush…..first crush he had developed when he was just a  boy……when he had figured out that he preferred men, in such a small age he had found an interesting male who treated him with respect and love, his name had not been said like this by anybody else, he shivered at the memories …. Pleasant memories…....when he was much younger, he was very happy and too naïve to know the evil truths, hidden darkness in world…

“Sir, …please……we can’t ……..I can’t…..I just can’t……..you don’t know..” Jason tried to protest the advancement his secret lover but he shuttered as the man behind him had slid his hand on Jason’s chest, placed a kiss on skin behind Jason’s ear earning inaudible moan and uneasy breath from Jason,

“Hey, don’t do this to us again! Please!” was the whisper in Jason’s ear again,

“I already told you a lot has changed. [Pause] I am not what you think …..I am….It’s not the same. Nothing is left what you knew of me. I……..I am mere a servant here. A lot has happened. Please………Please just let it go.” Said Jason in weak voice while he was being wrapped in strong arms, his neck was caressed with warm lips,

“I can’t. I am too much involved Jas. I always was.” came a possessive voice against the pale skin of Jason’s neck, a tear escaped from corner of Jason’s eye,

“Marco, please try to understand!” whispered Jason with heavy heart and sad voice,

“Hey, I have a Christmas present for you. I always bought you one, every Christmas; it’s just that I actually can give it to you this year. Jas, can you look at me at least!” said Marco in troubled voice as he pulled out from Jason’s neck, Jason stood up but did not turn to face the taller man, finally Marco grabbed his arm gently made him look at him. Marco noticed the tear on Jason’s cheek, his eyes looking down refusing to look into Marco’s, Marco sighed in frustration. Then slightly bending down, Marco kissed Jason’s forehead affectingly showing his love to shorter man as he dropped something inside Jason’s pocket of pants. 

Marco put his palm on Jason’s pale right cheek, he felt Jason’s skin with his thumb, he caressed it for a silent minute or two, waiting for Jason to look up to meet his gaze or to response in any way, he had been doing since the very first day he saw him, after all those years he tried to find Jason, Marco had to see him in Jane’s private plane and now he was trying to get Jason listen to him but Jason did not want to go back, he had setback in his life that Marco did not know about.

“Jas, I don’t care what has happened in the past. If you feel the way I feel about you, give me a chance to make things better, I want to start right where we left off.” Marco said in low and calm voice. Jason’s eyelids rose up as he opened his eyes to look into Marco’s eyes, Marco felt sad as he read the pain in Jason’s eyes, Marco’s brows furrowed as he scowled at Jason’s sad face, he fought back an urge to take Jason in his arms right then and there,

“Merry Christmas Jason! I will be waiting!” Said Marco and he placed a kiss on Jason’s left cheek, his palm caressing Jason’s right cheek, Marco pulled out after minute, he saw Jason’s face was still tense. He sighed again and left the shorter blonde alone as he made his way to his friends partying in the main hall.

After Marco left Jason collapsed on the chair, Marco had done this third time now. He kept trying to get Jason open up to him; he had already talked about it with Jane when he had taken a walk with her on the very day they arrived at island. She shared some information with Marco, apparently Marco has already knew more than half as he worked in an NGO with his father and famous retired navy seal officer Edward Newgate aka White beard. 

Marco had accepted the fact that Jason would not be one he was before he got kidnapped and was forced into slavery. Marco knew he had to deal with Jason’s weak emotional status, his pained heart. Marco wanted to take his pain away but Jason had been shutting him off since the day he saw him on that place among Jane’s friends, Jane had figured out that that was the reason Jason was so edgy that day and he almost had mental break down when Zoro tried to interrogate him in plane, it was all too much for poor Jason to handle.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_31st Dec...morning time........._ **

Jane sat at the window, looking out at the beautiful garden outside the manor, her left hand held the cellphone, her face was relaxed and slight smile was playing on her lips as she talked with one of her favorite persons on the earth. She wore a black tights and white long baggy t-shirt with full sleeves and had a black snapback on her head as usual, black converse on her feet.   

“I am happy you are enjoying your holidays, honey! You sound so lively!” Shanks voice came as if he was smiling very hard,

“Yes Shanks, I am. And you know I love this place, I love spring but I do miss the snow! I wanted to make snowman like we used to on Christmas eve and I do have a Christmas present for both of you. I wish you guys would be there with me, you know we all decorated big tree together, it took forever and things were really crazy, I am gonna remember this Christmas dad” Jane said with slight chuckle escaping her lips as she spoke in amused voice,

“Told you it would be fun! So, what you guys doing today?” Shanks asked excitedly,

“Today we are having ball in evening and banquet of course! We would have all famous islands traditional food for today’s banquet, it is going to be first new year’s eve on Rosolt Island without you guys here or first one when I am not with Luc….” Jane said with slight silver of pain in her voice but Shanks abruptly stopped her,

“Hey! It is going to be the one ……..where you will be with your brothers…your long lost family!  Ace and Luffy! Think about them.” Shanks said in scolding voice, she gave a sigh as she closed her eyes and bowed her head a little, she thought about Luffy, Ace, Sabo, old memories came back rushing, crowding her mind, making her smile sadly and so did the new memories they made since they came to this island, all friends playing in sand and ocean water, Luffy beaming at food, Ace’s mad grins as the food is served, their funny dance and wired funny faces they as pull pranks or steal food, all other friends enjoying parties, all of them playing on beach together, making jokes, laughing and singing off beat …she smiled again,

“Yeah! You are right! Actually these people are insane, I mean I just don’t know how time flew by, they don’t leave me for a second and drag me with them everywhere, I had to beg them to let me stay at home when they all went shopping, that was crazy. It’s like we came here yesterday, every day is so fast and short, I don’t even have to wait for sleep to come when I go to bed, I am in my room and asleep the next minute I am on my bed, this has never happened before!” said Jane in amused voice,

“Wow! I envy them; wish I could do what they did!” Shanks said quickly, Jane got all serious again opening her eyes she furrowed her brows before she spoke,

“Shanks, nobody can ever compare what you have done for me till date! Now don’t make me…” she was again cut off with Shanks' voice from other end,

“Honey, we are not going there! Okay! Now, tell me how are things with Zoro? Has he made his move yet? Did you guys…did you …….I mean …….you know what am saying!” he was just making fun and teasing she knew, her eyes went wide when Shanks mentioned Zoro’s name, blood started running to her cheeks, the memory of just a day before this one flashed by in her mind, it was almost like what they show in movies.

_Jane, Zoro along with Law and other friends were enjoying the Prom themed party but Music and dance had gone wild after some time, Zoro and Jane stood in beautiful garden of the manor a little away from all the ruckus but not too far, Zoro bent forward so as to speak to her, as music was quite loud he had to speak that way and they have been talking like that for a while now, she also had bent forward to listen to what he was saying, but suddenly she was pushed with great force, an accidental push from clumsy Luffy that threw Jane on Zoro’ chest and their lips almost touched each other’s, he had caught her firmly, they just stayed like that, stunned, engrossed in each other unknowingly liking the closeness, his face flushed with blush, Jane’s pale cheeks red, his breath fanning her lips, his lips slightly parted, she almost tasted his sake through his warm breath and slight touch of his lips on hers for a split second, their eyes bored into each other’s, intense gaze was broken when glass from her hand had slipped and shattered into pieces on the floor,_

“C’mon, tell me, you guys already did it?” Shanks said one more time to stir her up a bit, she bit her lip to contain the shy smile that crept up her lips before replying, blush was prominent now as the she thought about Zoro, they were getting closer to each other with each passing day,

“Dad! That’s gross, you can’t ask me that! Just gimmi a break okay!” Jane yelled her face going beet red at the thought of balcony visits, Zoro had been visiting her in the balcony like he did on very first day, she closed her eyes when she almost felt Zoro holding her close firmly but gently, he made her hug him back every day since the day he jumped into her balcony for the first time and it did not feel wrong when she did hug him,

“Oh! Looks like things are going far too well than I imagined!” Shanks said in mocking tone, she felt him smirking,

“No, it’s nothing like that, he…he just hugged me that’s it! Would you just let go off the topic already! Geez!” Jane said closing her eyes again as her blush did not disappear but got yet darker as she was thinking back every time Zoro tried to be near her, trying to be more than a friend, for every single day he made her smile, blush, made her feel loved and she suddenly remembered what was she doing in ball room and why she sat there waiting for HIM, today he had asked her to teach him how to dance and he was on his way to the ball room as she was speaking with Shanks,

“C’mon my child, loosen up a little, will you? He seems like a nice guy; he did give you handmade present didn’t he?” Shanks asked in serious voice,

Zoro was extremely good with knives and swords, he had found a small exceptionally white rock in the premises when they used to go for morning walk, the small white rock was soft enough that he had cut it down and sculpted a beautiful small sword out of it, about length of first finger, it was simply beautiful gift,

“Yes he did……Um…….. Dad……….. you ……..you know what I need to go, I ..…he is gonna come over for dance…, I…..I mean he needs my help…Shit! I am so dead………… I will call you later okay?” Jane said as she chewed on her bottom lip,

“Oh! So the priorities are changing now! I see!” Shanks said in fake hurt voice, Jane could imagine him making funny faces,

“Shanks! You are being such a tease! That's it, I am not gonna call you! Bye now!” Jane yelled furrowing her brows further,

“Hey! You know he is good option for a new year’s kiss! Consider him okay!” Shanks said as he laughed hard,

“Geez! You really are insane!” She yelled at phone,

There was another snort on other side of phone,

“Just take care sweetheart, bye for now, I will call you at the midnight!” said Shanks before he hanged up,

‘Shit, brother was listening too! I am gonna make you pay you red haired old pervert!’ Jane thought, suddenly she could feel another presence there as somebody cleared their throat,

“Hey!” Jane said acknowledging Zoro's presence,

“Hey! Hope I did not disturb you!” Zoro said raising his eyebrow as he smirked,

“No, but you did eavesdrop, bad manners!” Jane taunted as she looked down covering her face with her snapback a little so as to hid her blush but Zoro had already noticed it,

“Oh! I barely heard you yell at Shanks and that’s that! Tell me why is your face all red again, you okay?” Zoro said in low voice as he came closer and tried to put the back of his palm on her forehead as if to check her for temperature, she was shocked at sudden movement and she stared at him wide eyed as he was suddenly too close for comfort, her blush deepened further as she stopped his hand with her own instinctively before it could reach her face,

“I thought you are ill!” Zoro whispered,

“No, am not! It’s just…..It’s just…” She was shuttering, he knew that she was blushing but he just wanted to make her admit that it was him who made her blush, because she simply ignored the awkwardness and was dead set on keeping the relation only to the friendship, he was trying to be closer to her, trying to reach out to her heart but she always closed him off with playful smile or smirk or laughed it off,

“Just what Jane?” Zoro said getting yet closer, she closed her eyes, shook her head before she took his hand and bent it at an awfully painful angle, Zoro gave a hiss before he snorted at her blush, she cleared her throat and finally her blush started fading away,  

“So, you ready to learn some dance hulk-head?” she asked and released his hand,

“Yup, I guess I am Robocop!” Zoro said moving his hand in air as if checking if it was still okay,

“So, the thing is you have to have the rhythm inside yourself for you to be able to dance properly, if your mind can’t connect to the rhythm, you can’t dance. Now you are a drummer, so you understand a rhythm very well, you just have to move your feet and rest of the body accordingly, we going to have some have traditional ball music today, so let us start with that”, Jane said as she walked to the table placed at the center of a majestic ball room, she pushed the buttons on the panel and started some music in low voice, her feet tapping lightly on polished wooden surface, she changed a few tracks before she got settled for one and then turned back to look at Zoro, he was phased out, looking warily at her, she offered him a hand as she spoke,

“Come here, what you scared of music buddy?” Jane chuckled as he sighed,

“You don’t understand, I have never done it before, haven’t even taken an interest, I have zero knowledge of it!” Zoro said in awkward voice, as he walked closer and took Jane’s hand in his own, she moved a little to stand in front of him,

“First, who are you going to dance with? I mean male or female partner? That is important for me to know before we start!” Jane asked casually,

“What? Are you kidding me? You are going to be my partner!” Zoro said in panic,

“Me? No way in hell!” she yelled as she left his hand and put her hands on her hips,

“Why? Too good to be my partner now?” Zoro asked playfully, narrowing his eyes on her as he poked her fore head,

She swatted his hand away,

“Zoro, I would have to wear a dress or a gown for me to be your partner and that is the thing that scares the living hell out of me! So, I am not gonna be anybody’s partner. Let alone a guy!” she said scrunching her nose,

“That not gonna work missy! You are a girl and you will dress like one. This one time! No excuses today! You owe me a favor anyways, I wanna use it now!” Zoro said as he folded his hands over his chest and gave her a smirk,

“But Zoro, I can’t handle that thing! It makes me sick!” She said making pained face crushing her nose, Zoro sighed and put his hands on her shoulders,

“Jane, it’s just for today. In fact not even whole day, it’s matter of few hours! We did decide the theme together, now help me with this. You know I am not even in these various dance completions we are having since day one, now I don’t have an option today or Nami is gonna make me pay for it, I mean really pay in terms of money! And more over I want to dance, I want to do this with you! So, stop whining and just dance with me!” Zoro took her hands in his sliding them down from her shoulders,  

“I am so dead!” she said as she sighed and took his right arm and placed his palm on her waist on left side, she adjusted his poster a little with hand gestures and small instructions, he was paying attention to her instructions but half of his attention was concentrated at his hand that was on her waist……..

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Thousands of miles away………..across two oceans………….._ **

On an Island called night less island, one of world government’s headquarters, office of chief commander of CP 9, there was sound of cup sliding down and something spilling over,

“Hot…hot….hot…..I spilled my coffee again…..Damn it!” yelled Spandam, the commanding officer of CP 9, as his hand burned with hot liquid, some of his paperwork on lying on desk also got ruined,

Lucci was seated on the seat near window in his car in the train speeding towards the grand line, he had his eyes closed and burrowed furrowed as he was on his way to Grand line city he did not want to stop at the Ennies lobby,

“What is the matter with you Lucci? I thought you wanted to come back till next stage of the mission starts. I thought you all like it her better?” shrieked Spandam, Lucci had always been annoyed by this man to no end but he was their superior officer,

“Why is it that you felt a need to call me?” asked Lucci in cold voice,

“Right! If I am not forgetting anything then I am still your superior I can bloody call you whenever I want! And why you killed so many girls, they were sent to please you, you know!” Sapndam yelled in his irritating voice,

“I did not like them. Nowhere near pleasing, they were only worth dying!” Lucci said impassively as if he had squashed a bug and not just killed a young girl, barely 18 years of age. He sat calmly seeping his vodka and tonic, unbothered by the kill he just made, his shirt unbuttoned, his pants messily done, his tie loose, his face unreadable but eyes angry, looking out of the window, a naked dead young girl sprawled on the seat in his car, blood coming from the bullet wound right between her eyes.

He sat on opposite side, looking out of window as the train was moving towards Grand line with each passing minute,

“Well, at least try not to kill them by bullets, just do something that would make it look like an accident! Lucci you should know better than that, this is 13th kill without any purpose, what am I supposed to do if you keep killing our own people?” Spandam yelled from other side of phone,

“They all were worthless trash, anyways have you gotten any positive response for the request I made to the world government higher ups?” Lucci asked in icy voice,

“They have agreed on the first two conditions but the person should not be legally related to you, third condition about the specific island in west blue, that condition won’t be accepted as it’s simply above your pay grade but if you bring both of them back alive then you may put some pursue on them in agreeing” said Spandam in serious tone, he stopped a little before continuing further,

“Plus that would mean more power for me and in turn more power, freedom and money to you too! Try to bring that bitch back alive and that that bastard Cutty flam as you said he is also alive, I would want him to feel the humiliation too!”

“Understood, you will hear from us soon!” spoke Lucci and hanged up the call,

He pressed button on the panel on right side of his seat as he spoke,

“send cleaning unit in and Kaku I want the P3FC file, have it sent in here” without waiting or caring to wait for reply from other side he broke the connection and after a minute or so, Kaku along with some black robed men entered the car Lucci was in, 

“You did it again hun!” Kaku said, the black robed men put the dead girl in a sack and sealed it away, they cleaned the blood off the all the seat as quickly as they could and existed the place, Kaku looked at Lucci who had his angry gaze fixed somewhere outside the window and he looked clam,

“Lucci, why you had to kill her? You only asked her to please you in first place, you had a choice didn’t you? What did you get by killing a poor girl, she was not even a prostitute but just a waitress in this train, but she did come to be with you when you asked” Kaku said,

“That’s what makes her a whore!” Lucci said impassively without blinking or taking his eyes off where ever he was staring at,

“That is not quite the point I am trying to make. You have been killing all those who you get intimate with. Does……….[Kaku narrowed his eyes on Lucci before continuing]…..does it have to do something with Jane?” Kaku said last sentence,

Lucci glared at him, his eyes were filled with murderous intent, his features got tensed, his fist clenched as broke the glass in his hand, shattering the glass all over the small table,

“Kaku, you know better than to talk like that! I guess I have told you before, I don’t want to talk about it!” Lucci said as he removed his gaze from his friend’s face,

“We don’t have to kill her, I have a plan, would you like to listen?” Kaku asked his friend in low voice,

\-----

Two cars away from the one in which Lucci and Kaku sat, Kalifa and Blune were seated on opposite seats, Kalifa had a book in her hands while Bluno was doing something on laptop,

“Lucci’s killed another one!” Bluno said showing her email he just received,

“My, my, he is going overboard with this now!” Kalifa said,

“Yes, I think he can’t stand any other woman touching him now. He still can’t forget about HER, it’s like he liked to be with her” Bluno said as if he was analyzing some math problem or some data in experiment,

“Hum. You are right, that Jane has got her hooks pretty deep inside him! I just don’t believe she got Lucci to stay with her for that long!” Kalifa spat,

“You don’t seem to like her that much! Well she is a nice girl; powerful, beautiful and intelligent, she definitely suits Lucci! I think that was the reason that he did not kill her even after we received the order to end her life.” Bluno said without changing his expressions one bit,

“He does not think that way, he is cold hearted, calculative hunter, he just likes to kill, he is monster, we all are. We don’t care what or whom we fuck, we just don’t have to!  He must have had a good plan, keeping her alive was part of his plan Bluno, that is why they allowed her to live till date!” Kalifa said getting irritated by the way Jane’s name would come up again and again,

“No, he kept her alive because he could not kill her. he had to act as her boyfriend. A perfect boyfriend she would have wanted, we had a team researched all about her quite well and had gotten all information about her nearly for a year before they planted him in her life. We did not know at that time she aspired to be become an agent and idealized her brother, we thought she was close to that red head! Lucci had to put up a show, an act of a boyfriend or may be husband if needed.”

“So? He did, didn’t he?” said Kalifa and raised eyebrow,

“He had to act as a boyfriend, not overprotective and possessive lover! I could have never imagined him acting like that, they were actually getting domesticated. And to tell the truth, it still is unbelievable some times, he definitely acted as lover, a possessive one! You should have seen them together, it took me many days to cope up and get along with that side…that part of Lucci! He was different all together!” Bluno said showing some photos he had of Jane and Lucci together, Kalifa’s face became paler and her eyes were wide as she saw them together like happiest couple in the world,

“So, you are saying he would try and avoid killing her this time too?” Kalifa asked,

“That is what Kaku thinks and I agree with him!” Bluno said shrugging, Kalifa’s face relaxed as she started thinking,

\---------

The train reached in the Grand line, they went to the place that was secretly kept for them to stay in grand line.

Lucci got up suddenly form his seat in the room everybody was seated at and started leaving from the facility,

“Mind if I tag along?” asked Kalifa,

“Yes, I do. I want to go alone.” He said without looking at her and hurriedly he went out of the house,

Lucci took a car and drove away to the central part of the city, he drove mindlessly till he thought up something and then he went to the penthouse that was his and Jane’s home four months back, he made sure that nobody was following him, he checked for any cameras and wire taps before making way into the penthouse, he still had a key of the door and it still fit and opened the lock.

‘This place had been left as it is? I thought I would be demolished or destroyed, did Jane just abandon this place?’ Lucci thought,

He went through the door, hit the lights, everything was the way he had left it, well almost everything, some photos were on floor, rest was exactly where he had left it four months back, just little dirtier. He shut the door closed, went and sat on the couch, looked around as he took in whole view of the place, took long breath in, it smelled home, he felt at ease for no reason. He was confused, he was angry at himself, his brows furrowed as he scowled and tried to find out the reason behind his never dying anger, his restlessness. After moment or two he sighed and threw his head back as to rest on it, he relaxed his body on the couch and closed his eyes,

_“Whoa! You look fried! That is a rare look in your face, what happened handsome?” said Jane in teasing voice, straddling him as she smirked at him. Then smiling back at his tired but smiling face, she combed through his raven thick black hair with her long slender fingers, caressing his scalp with her fingertips, adding comfort to the head that was thrown back as sign of his tiredness. He leaned into touch and hummed as he moved her closer to him putting his hands around her waist,_

_“Who said I am fried? Ain’t nobody fried here, I am gonna make you scream my name babe! Just you wait!” he said in low voice as he slipped is hand inside her shirt and rested it on small of her back while his another went behind the back of her neck to pull her into clumsy kiss while his head still remained thrown back._

_Jane now completely on top of his chest, kiss deepened due as her hands adjusted angle changing the position of his head a little, he nibbled her bottom lip but she used her tongue to part his lips, he obliged and she pushed her tongue inside her lover, this time he let her lead the kiss, she dominated  him completely, she traced every line his mouth with her slim tongue making him growl, he moaned in kiss which was swallowed by Jane as she gave a hum in response, they soon broke for air, she bit his neck and he growled as if he liked that, she pulled of his neck after creating a mark as she put her head on his shoulders,_

_“Let us order some take away or let us just go to the nearest restaurant for dinner, don’t cook today, you really look tired Lucci!” Jane said placing kiss on skin behind his ear,_

_“Hmmmmm, that feels so good!” he whispered,_

_“Does it?” she said as she bit him on neck again, he growled and took her hand in his as he brought her hand near his mouth and started kissing it,_

_“Baby, I like cooking for us…..[she bit on base of his neck and slipped her slim hand inside his shirt by opening a button] …..Mmmrgh!……….plus we can have fun in kitchen too! It’s the only time………[Lucci gave growl as Jane bit him harder]……….. I get to be around you and I don’t wanna waste it in restaurant or hotel.” Lucci said as he gripped her tighter and used his hand to yank her in a passionate kiss as she was simply arousing him by biting him like that, they broke a kiss without deepening it,_

_“Lucci, I managed to come a little early today so that we would get more time with each other. I am leaving the Grand line tomorrow for about a week and it may extend..” she whispered, Lucci stopped kissing her hand, sighed against skin of her hand then he looked at her with tired eyes and she made apologetic face but he got up and moved them so as to stand up with Jane in his arms,_

_“Whole week?” he asked with impassive eyes but furrowed brows, she nodded before she whispered in his ear, cupping his face,_

_“But, as soon as I come back, I will be with you for two days, whole two days I promise!” that earned her his smirk,_

_“That sounds sexy but then it’s as you say, we are not cooking at home! You up for Pizza? Beer? Or Wine you say!” Lucci asked as they made their way to the bedroom,_

_“Pizza, beer! But I want chocolates too. Can you order that too?” asked Jane giving him puppy eyes,_

_“Okay princes! Chocolates too!” said Lucci snorting,_

_He placed her on the plush bed and crawled up the bed so that he now towered above her, she winced as he pushed her in bed pinning her hands with his single larger hand. He stopped and raised his eyebrow at her wince, but she gave a smirk to him and started crawling out from under him, he quickly straddled her before she could escape, he pinned her hands above her head firmly with both of his hands and captured her lips with his own again in deep and heated kiss. After their lips parted, she was left panting heavily with half lidded eyes,_

_“I could eat you like this! You look delicious when you are like this you know that!” said Lucci as he started to unbutton her jeans with other hand. She rubbed her thigh against his groin earning a growl from her lover straddling her,_

_“Hum, I would love to get eaten by such a handsome cannibal!” Jane gave a hiss involuntarily as he put pressure on her hands, he stopped working on her jeans and looked at her suspiciously, he could not understand what that hiss was for._

_“Come here, I want to kiss you!” whispered Jane gesturing him to come closer by tugging in her bound hands, he moved up to capture her lips again as he put his weight on her, he pulled out without deepening the kiss earning a whimper from her._

_“I am actually all sweaty, how about a quick shower?” Lucci whispered against her lips,_

_“Hmm, sweet!” said Jane as he started unbuttoning her shirt  with his one free hand and teeth, while he kissed her jaw and made his way down to her skin of neck. he left her hands as his lips traveled further down on her skin, as buttons were being undone Lucci kept planting kisses down on the milky white expanse of the her pale and deliciously exposed skin, he sucked and licked her skin as he went down with each undone button earning sweet moans and hums from Jane, she gripped bed sheets in her fists as she felt his tongue on her belly button, swirling violently on her sensitive skin, he moved further down and  bit on her hip bone little harshly,_

_“L…..Lucci!” she moaned in pain mixed with pleasure, he then sucked on the red bruised spot, his tongue now trailed below as he resumed working on undoing her jeans, he finally took of her jeans that lied in a pile near the bed,_

_“I know how to….to undress myself!” she whispered yelled as she crawled out of his hands with help of her elbows and toes,_

_“Oh! I just do it much more nicely! Oh! No you don't. You are not going anywhere babe!” said Lucci in husky voice as he gripped her waist, made her sit up with his hand on small of her back, claimed her lips in bruising kiss, she gave a groan which got eaten by Lucci’s hungry mouth, he took off her shirt and threw it on table. As he was so engrossed in kissing her  senseless, he did not notice slight blood stain on the shirt._

_They pulled off and she chuckled at his statement and loosened his tie with her fingers giving him seductive face. He licked his lips as he lifted her off the bed and took her to bathroom as her remaining clothes and straps around her breasts were taken off her body and thrown away one by one, soon leaving her pale lean body stark naked in his arms as they reached bathroom door, he kept kissing her on lips and jaw the whole time his hands managed to take her clothes off, she had her hands around his neck as she enjoyed his kisses as he worshiped her body._

_He put her down gently and stopped showering her with kisses as she pushed him back playfully and quickly ran inside, he chuckled and started undressing himself, he had become hard from their activities, Jane went inside the shower section and started the warm water shower. She was enjoying the warm water against her skin, she hummed moved her arms up and turned on her heels but hissed in pain as water hit her wound on her back just below the left shoulder, she quickly turned to avoid the wound getting hit but water and stretched herself little more, she felt her muscled relaxing._

_She reached for shower jell and bath sponge, when Lucci came opening the fogged glass door and wrapped her in his arms. She winced as his hand collided directly on the wound, he noticed that and pulled away to make her turn and take a look at the newly received wound on her body covered with some cloth messily taped on her skin like she herself had put it there,_

_“That another wound? Oh! So, that is why you winced like that when I pushed you on bed, why didn’t you tell me before. C’mon Jane, you know you have to be careful!” Lucci scolded her,_

_“Yeah, I messed up a little, I am sorry! I would be careful next time!” Jane said warily as she turned took his face in her hands and made apologetic face as she made him look at her face and not the wound, he removed her hands from his face by taking them in his own, he pulled her near him a little to get would completely off water jet and narrowed his eyes on her,_

_“A little? Tsk! Is it is not enough that you work for more time than necessary, how many times do I have to see you wounded like this? Moreover, that is nasty wound, why you don’t have a bandage or anything on it? Why some cloth?” he asked now sounding way too pissed off, he had put his palm in the way of the water droplet stream to make it stop directly hitting her wounded side as he spoke,_

_“I changed real fast and kinda rushed to you as soon as I could get away from there, so I still haven’t had anybody to look at it! Does it look that bad?” Jane asked in awkward voice,_

_Lucci sighed at her ignorance, he closed his eyes and furrowed his brows further, water was running from their head, dripping on the gray tiles, making only noise to make the thick silence bearable for Jane,_

_She put her arms around his neck and tiptoed to get out of the range of showering water droplets on her head, she pushed her small frame to his bigger and stronger body, his resolve of staying angry at her was faltering as his half hard member was getting rubbed on her belly and her breasts were getting smashed on his well-toned chest as she struggled to maintain the height while she managed her weight on her wet slippery toes so as to be able to kiss him, her lips reaching his chin she spoke softly against his skin,_

_“Lucci, I am sorry. Please don’t be mad at me. C’mon, just let us take the shower then you can patch me up, easy! It’s not as bad as it looks like, I promise. Please baby, just let it go this time, I would take care next time.” Jane said in low voice._

_After a minute he sighed again before opening his eyes and looked into hers, he moved his hand to her neck and caressed the skin of her neck as tilted her head a little, he bent down as he touched his lips to hers when he yanked her to him, plastered whole of her lean body firmly on his tanned one using his another hand that was now around her waist,_

_“You say that every time! As if you haven’t got enough wounds and scars already! Baby, it hurts to see you hurt. You really mess with my head, I don’t want you getting hurt, you understand that you Idiot?” said Lucci as he picked her up her tiptoeing form off in his hands and kissed her passionately and hungrily, he dominated kiss this time, his tongue travelling all the way to the back of her mouth, tasting and taking in all that her warm and wet mouth had to offer, they pulled out after they were out of breath._

_He tossed her up a little so that his one hand now was below her ass and another on waist; he captured her lips again and made her wrap legs around him. He then moved them so that Jane’s back connected to the moist fogged glass. Lucci kept his hand on her back of her neck to adjust a position so the hurt part of her shoulder and back won’t be on the glass while he kept kissing her. When he was sure that Jane had been balanced perfectly against the glass and with his body, still in the kiss he removed one of his hands from her butt he turned off the water knob while still kissing her, then that hand travelled near her woman-wood, his thumb caressed her lower lips, she moaned in kiss as she felt this thumb spreading her sensitive folds._

_His thumb made soothing circle on her womanhood and near her clit, she was getting deliciously wet, his own hard erection was dripping pre-ejaculate wetting her belly watching her hot writhing pale body in his arms, they broke the kiss for air, she was panting heavily as he continued teasing her entrance with his thumb, she shivered as she desperately clung to his larger body to keep her in place as her legs had started giving out and her mind clouded with passionate love from his intense kisses and the thought of their love making,_

_“Jane, My Jane!” Lucci said as he growled after he sucked on her neck,_

_“Yours, only yours” She managed to respond melting into the luxurious arms that enveloped her, his touches making her skin heated. He looked hungrily at her small form wrapped around him, clung to his torso, eyes half lidded, face flushed with deep red blush, lips kiss swollen, chest rising up and down to catch breath…_

_“Beautiful!!” he whispered before he started working on the mark he wanted to create on her skin, on the base of her long neck where her it connected to shoulder,_

_“Aaargh!” she screamed as he sunk his teeth in her skin nearly drawing out her blood and slid his first finger inside her dripping entrance at the same time, she tugged on his hair with one hand and other was around his neck, he worked on her neck aggressively as he gave a growls and slid another finger inside her entrance impatiently, his thirst reducing her to a moaning mess trapped between the foggy glass wall and his panting body._

_“Lucci! Aaaaaaarrgh! H… Hurry!” said Jane, she felt overwhelmed, heat was spreading up in her body, setting her skin on fire, melting her bones, his impatience, his hunger for her, his want for her drove her insane with love and lust, arousing her even more, making her mind go fuzzy……._

_He knew what she wanted after that statement, he left the skin of her neck that was marked with his teeth now, pulled out both fingers from her dripping wet hole, he licked his fingers of her liquid to give Jane a seductive look,_

_She shuddered when she felt his throbbing member pressing against her entrance,_

_“Baby?”_

_“Yeah! am ready!” whispered Jane,_

_He slowly pushed his erect meat inside her tight entrance growling at sensation of the hot sweet tightness wrapping around his throbbing rod,_

_“Mghnnnnnn!” Jane moaned biting hard on her bottom lip, her eyes squeezed shut, brows furrowed as hard and warm dripping cock of her lover slid past her entrance to fill her to the fullest, touching her where nobody had, making her feel what nobody had before, she groaned against clenched teeth as she was being filled in without much preparation, her muscles contracted around the warm body inserting inside her as her breathing halted, Lucci also panted tried to adjusting the hot tightness around his weeping member, her grip over him loosened as her legs finally gave out, he immediately supported her with his hand to keep her in place,_

_“Babe, you okay? Breath………. Gotta……….gotta relax baby!” Lucci said panting heavily,_

_She breathed in hard adjusting to the pleasurable discomfort inside her, it was a decent fit, though he was lean Lucci was very tall, so he was big and quite long in there too, after some seconds, she opened her eyes to look at him, he pushed a little more and gave a growl as he was completely inside her now, his raven pubes felling her skin, he looked back at her with deep hazy eyes,_

_“Love you Jane!” said Lucci hurriedly before he claimed her lips again declaring they were complete now, inseparable, they had become one again, this feeling overwhelmed both the lovers, Jane gave a slight shudder,_

_“Perfect…………perfect as always!” Lucci said in kiss before he pulled out from her lips,_

_“I am…I am gonna move now…..” Lucci said and she gave a quick nod,_

_Their breathing became erratic as Lucci started moving in and out driving moans and groans from Jane, somehow finding energy she started moving her hips with his thrusts, soon their speed matched, he adjusted angle a little by lifting her up with both of his hands now supported her shivering form firmly. He found her G spot after few more thrusts which made her scream his name, he hit it again and again, soon her walls tightened around member squeezing him to level that made him want to cum, her toes curled and back arched and she came hard on his cock, as her body went limph as she dropped her weight on wall behind her, keeping her head leaned on glass, Lucci managed two more thrusts but he knew he was gonna come so he removed his cock and pulled back from her so as to empty himself on her belly, he held her out of breath form to his panting body close, both breathing heavily trying to oxygenate their bodies, Jane’s hand slid away from around his neck and she wrapped her arms around his torso,_

_“You okay darling?” Lucci asked between breaths,_

_“Hmm” Jane said as she buried her face into his chest,_

_“C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up!” He said,_

_“Stay for a sec!” she said against his skin, he caressed her bruised skin and the areas around wound, after few minutes, their breathing became normal,_

_“I love you Lucci!” whispered Jane,_

_“I love you too baby!” Lucci said without delaying for second,_

_“Come! Too much water is not good for wound, we need to tend it!” he said as he kissed her quickly and picked her up bridal style as he walked back to shower and placed her as he started the shower,_

_He applied the jell soap and cleaned both of them up……_

_He pulled her off her feet again after turning shower knob off, they walked out naked, bodies still water soaked, water dripping off them, wetting the area outside the shower, he put her down on cold white floor, she hissed at the sudden cold contact of white tiles and jumped a little covering her chest with hands. He chuckled and covered her with her bathrobe and he reached out for his own bathrobe did same with himself, Jane was walking towards bed when he grabbed her again and picked her up before she could get her feet into shoes,_

_“If you keep doing that, I may forget to walk!” she said as she stuck her tongue out at him,_

_“Then I get to carry you everywhere!” he smirked at her when she shook her head, he gently put her on bed and gave quick peck on her lips,_

_“Now let us take care of that wound!” he said pulling out and was about to go to take the medic kit but,_

_“Nope, first go and order something to eat, I am starving!” said Jane lying on bed as she raised her hand in air,_

_“Okay! Pizza it is!” Lucci said,_

_“Yay! Pizza!” yelled Jane, he chuckled and went to make a call……_

Lucci’s phone ranged and vibrated inside his pocket, that memory of moment he had with HIS Jane was gone, vanished within seconds but making him hard, he was wet just at the memory of their love making, now everything seemed dry and dead, like life has spat on his face, he muttered curse under his breath as he realized he was painfully hard, he was pissed off, ‘Now I would again have to jerk off just fantasizing her in my arms, Che! This is getting out of hand now, I should just have her kidnapped and force her to marry me, I would just have kept her to myself!’ thought Lucci,

He inwardly thanked whoever was calling him to snap him out of that pain which angered him and memories that made him mad, the thing that Lucci was not able to understand since four months, he pulled the device off his pocket to see that it was Kaku calling him,

“What is it?” asked the raven haired man in cold voice,

“Lucci, Jane is not in grand line! We would have to wait until she returns, that is I guess after next week. I am sending you some photos and some info you might want to take a look at!”

“Okay!” with that Lucci hanged up and got up from couch and went to kitchen, then to all other rooms, it was overwhelming, it was first time Lucci had felling such a thing, he had never in his life before felt such a thing that he had been experiencing in his chest after he left the Grand line four months back,

 ----------

He went to the bedroom, the whole room had a wall decor with the numerous photos of moments Jane and Lucci had spent together, it was definitely a romantic place to be at, it was what they had created and loved to have…… together, a memory nest, collection of precious cherished moments and memories of six years they have been together. With Jane, being with her had turned him into a romantic being from being the heartless one, not was far different the case with Jane or she had thought so. He moved his hand which was tucked inside pocket of his slacks and touched the Jane’s face in photo in front of him,

“It’s not that I went too deep in the act that I never knew when I started loving you for real, I did not realize that I can’t live without you until I left you and this city for good! I mean that is what Kaku says. He says that is why I could not kill you two years back when order came telling me to end your life,” Lucci said rubbing his finger tips on Jane’s photo,

“But in the end I could not bring myself to do it so devised a plan to trick world government in keeping you alive instead. You just forgave me thinking that all that happened to you was an accident! How naïve you are, you just loved me, didn’t you! Your brother gave me hell but you never doubted me for a second. What am I supposed to do with you now, kill you or love you, both are same for me, I will kill you and then myself, then we both be at peace, right? I suppose we will die together, that would be perfect death for me!” Lucci said as he looked in the photo, Jane looked so happy in photo, he almost smiled at her smiling face.

“I know I broke your heart, I had to, those were my orders and I know that, you did not take it well! I completed my mission and you lost yours along with your heart, I told them that I kept you alive for mission, Jane was it worth it?” Lucci asked, he sighed as he heard email alert on his cell phone, he went over the bed and laid with his back on the bed, opened the email not knowing what was to come….


	11. The first Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucci can not wait to talk to Jane, he finds out about Zoro, he thinks of killing Zoro....  
> Lucci wants Jane to come back to him....Kaku tries to explain Lucci how this stuff actually works? Lucci is stubborn but is now completely aware that he is love with Jane.........
> 
> But...
> 
> Zoro makes his move, confesses .......he kisses Jane on new year's eve! .....what would be her reaction?

****

**_Rosolt Island…………._ **

Zoro was practicing his dance lessons with Jane for the ball they had in the evening, he was doing good and he was enjoying his time with Jane as she taught him how to dance,

“See, told ya that was easy!” exclaimed Jane happily as she smiled at him,

“You think so??” Zoro said smiling back awkwardly,

“Wow! You really can make him dance!” mocked Sanji as he sat at the big tall glass window, smoking his favourite poison,

“Oh! Sanji, it’s good that you came, I need to make an important phone call and talk to Jason regarding some arrangements to be done for the evening events, would you help Zoro a bit here?” Jane said while keeping her feet moving along with Zoro’s,

Zoro freaked out listening her speak but,

“Oh! Why not!” quickly said Sanji in sincere voice and not drooling over Jane’s outfit which was showing her curvy figure due to her black tights, that was bit odd for Zoro to see cook behaving normal around her unlike his behaviour towards other ladies,

“No! Jane, the hell are you doing dude? Not him! Anybody but him! You crazy?” Whisper yelled Zoro as he bent to speak in her ear pulling her close,

“Don’t worry Zoro, I will be back real quick! Plus you two need to get your shit together!” whispered Jane as she ruffled his shirt crop hair and motioned Sanji to take over, Zoro gave her ‘What the hell’ look as she winked at him. Even he saw it with his own eyes, this behaviour of Zoro's with Jane, even after had noted Zoro getting that way with Jane, talking, texting and socializing, Sanji simply could not believe it; Jane behaving like that with Zoro, the way she ruffled his hair, winked at him, the way Zoro responded to her was totally unacceptable for Sanji to see....

She ran out of the room before Zoro could stop her and Sanji made his way over to Zoro,

“Stop right there Cook! Just walk away!” Zoro said closing his eyes and folding his arms on his chest,

Sanji came walking closer over to where Zoro stood, Zoro cracked opened his eyes to look into Sanji’s blue one when Zoro felt Cook taking out Zoro’s arm and put it around his own waist, 

“Shut up and dance!” Sanji said smiling and looking into his eyes,

\------------------

They danced for a while, with Sanji posing as his partner, Zoro felt awkward, he never really looked at Sanji’s face, Cook was behaving very uncharacteristically since they came to island, especially around him and Jane,

‘What the hell you are up to shitty cook?’ Zoro thought but that thought was murdered as Sanji pressed his body onto Zoro’s, leaving Zoro's arm he put both of his arms around Zoro’s neck, Zoro could no longer think straight, he kept moving with rhythm but did not hold Sanji the way he should hold his partner or the way Sanji had expected him to, after some time Zoro fluttered his eyes closed in frustration and stopped abruptly, he grunted pushing Sanji away a little.

“What happened?” Asked Sanji innocently,

“You tell me cook!” Zoro asked taking Sanji’s hands off him,

“What you mean, don’t you like this?” Sanji said connecting their torso again, he put his hands on Zoro’s chest, got yet closer to rub his groin on Zoro’s and pink dusted Zoro’s cheeks,

“You do, look you do like this Zoro!” Sanji said smirking,

Zoro furrowed his brows and pushed cook away one more time as he took a step back, Sanji moved towards him further, Zoro pushed him back harshly and got pissed off,

“Why? Why now curly-cook? What are you doing this for?” Zoro yelled,

“Why? I thought you liked me!” Sanji said giving him a puppy eye as his swirled eyebrow went up,

“Stay the hell away from me, you shitty-cook!” Zoro said annoyed at Sanji's behaviour,

“C’mon Mariomo, you like me, why don’t you just admit it?” Sanji yelled as he noticed Jane coming back to the hall, she was putting her cellphone back in her pocket,

“Sanji, stay the hell back! I am warning you! Last thing I want is to make a scene in here, use your head for once!” Zoro said greeting his teeth, Jane stopped dead in her tracks hearing Zoro speak like that, after a moment of thinking, she turned on her heels to go back the way she came, Sanji saw her turning away but Zoro had his back to her to see her go away,

“Why are you doing this with me Zoro? Why are you doing this to Jane chan?” Zoro’s eyes went wide at his statement, Jane suddenly stopped as she overheard her name being spoken like that, she was not walking away anymore but had stopped right there, before Zoro could protest Sanji continued taking a step towards Zoro and raising his voice a little,

“Look, you never asked me of anything, you never said you loved me or even like me nor did you make a move! How was I supposed to know what exactly you wanted” Sanji yelled sadly then he sighed and continued, “I felt you never wanted us to get serious, you just liked being physical, you know like, sucking me off!” Sanji added shrugging,

“Shitty pervert cook! I told you not to speak that way with me! There was no US, you never let that happen! I did not do anything wrong with you, hell! I did not do anything with you, you sick bastard! The only reason you are still alive is I liked you once!” Zoro spat gritting his teeth, grabbing Cook's coat,

“Wow, really? Then why you kissed me, stupid Marimo head? Why you touched me if you did not love me!” Sanji yelled as he raised his knee to kick Zoro in stomach, Zoro easily dodged his kick, 

“The fuck is wrong with you dart brow? Can’t stand the fact that I have finally stopped giving you attention, you have all the bitches in the whole fucking world to flounce around with, what more you want?” Zoro said as he pinned Sanji on floor,

“How dare you Mosshead! How dare insult women like this?” Sanji said freeing his leg and kicking Zoro in gut, Zoro winced as he stood up, Sanji was also getting up,

"Yeah! Like you are the one to talk! Ever thought what you do with them, pervert ero-cook!!"

"Bastard! You dont know shit about it!"

"I don't fucking care!" spat Zoro, ran to him to knock him out and threw a punch at Sanji’s face while Sanji threw a kick at Zoro's, Sanji’s leg and Zoro’s punch was grabbed by Jane in her both hands firmly, she stopped both their attacks at a time as she yelled,

"The hell I do with you two!!" growled Jane,

“Jane?” Exclaimed both, Sanji immediately withdrew his feet from her hand, panicking that she caught his foot, Zoro had stopped applying pressure on fist but his hand was still firmly held by Jane,

“Stand down men!” Jane said in sharp voice. Zoro was furious that Sanji finally had managed to make a scene for no reason,

“Shitty cook!” cursed Zoro as he tried to use his another hand to grip the collar of Sanji’s shirt, Jane took hold oh his other hand too and pushed him little back from Sanji, Jane now standing in between them facing Zoro,

“Stand down Corporal! Easy! Hey!” Jane said in voice of a commanding officer as the perfect captain she was,

“Jane, I told you not to let him be here with me!” Zoro said in frustrated voice and angry face still looking at pissed Sanji,

“Yeah! That was a bad idea indeed!” said Jane as she glanced over her shoulder to look at confused Sanji,

“It's not totally my fault! but I am sorry Jane Chan! ” Sanji said in convincing voice,

“No, you are not, ero-cook!” yelled Zoro,

“Shut up!! Moss for brains!” huffed Sanji,

“Hey! Quit it!” scolded Jane above their voices which made both of them shut their mouths, she stood facing Zoro and her back at Sanji, she looked at Zoro's face, he was pissed off when he had his gaze on Sanji. Jane knew how hurt Zoro was because of Sanji, she knew why he looked troubled, his eyes gave away his pain. She sighed and gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, he looked at her, sighed and nodded, she left his hands and then turned back on her heels to look at Sanji,

“Now, let us talk like civilized people you guys! Sanji, my dear friend, may I know what is going on with you?” Jane asked and Sanji made confused face, he was so damn confused now,

‘I thought Jane chan would be furious knowing that Zoro had been physically intimate with me, I did that because she has every right to know that Zoro is gay, she must know all her options before this idiot Moss brain does something to her. She must understand that he likes me not her! He is just doing it, he is getting close to her to get my attention, he always been secretly wanting me paying attention to him, he can’t be with me or any of the girls, he is just not good enough to be with anybody, that’s it. But she is calm! Why?’ Sanji thought,

“Sanji, I am asking you this because I already know the Zoro’s side of the story, he told me about……..about your awkward encounters and his interest in you. I apologize for having overheard your conversation. I was walking away when I heard Zoro yell at you but when you mentioned my name I stopped, I just could not leave. Look Sanji, Zoro is not hitting on me and even if he is or whatever he is doing with me that you feel is not proper, he has my permission for it. He has not yet crossed his boundaries. And moreover, even if he does, as you can see, I can take care of myself. I had thought that I would let you guys handle your own problem but it seems you prefer fighting than talking so I had to come to stop you guys. If you promise to conclude what you have started in civilized manner I am ready to leave right now!” Jane said in serious tone,

“Jane, just stay okay!” Zoro said grabbing her hand,

“No Zoro, please just let him speak!” Jane said without looking back at him but she bored her eyes in Sanji’s,

“Jane chan, I don’t know what to say! I mean, I don’t even know what he has told you?” Sanji said panicking as his hand went to tug on his hair,

“What he had told me, must not concern you Sanji. Just tell me what happened, what you think should have and what you want now! Simple! Or on second thought, just tell Zoro! Look, it’s not appropriate for me to ask such things of you, it would be better of you guys talk privately! I am right outside that window, I am watching you guys, so you better make sure not to fight with fists and kicks, just talk and clear out all misunderstandings okay! If I see you guys fighting and throwing punches and kicks, I would no longer be part of this vacation fun with you guys, I would leave the place immediately, you understand!” Jane scolded and Sanji nodded along with a curt nod from Zoro,

“Jane, you don’t need to go, rather I don’t want you to go!” Zoro said as soon as she finished, tightening his grip over her hand that was held by him all this time,

“Just sort things out Zoro, I am right outside. We are practicing new moves after you guys done talking okay?” said Jane in calm and mature voice,

“Okay!” said Zoro letting go her hand and she went away,

\-------------------------

“So, talk! Say whatever the hell you want to say and leave me the fuck alone!” said Zoro coldly,

“You told her about us?” Sanji asked surprised,

“Yes, everything!” Zoro said closing his eyes, folding his arms over chest,

“Really? Like what?” Sanji said lighting another cigarette,

“Everything that I felt and you didn’t!” came a curt reply,

“Why?”

“What does it matter to you?” Zoro now had turned a little so that he would not look at Sanji even if he opened his eyes, Sanji sighed inaudibly,

“Zoro you can’t like her! Jane is a girl you see and you are gay, you never ever been into girls, not even single time. Even imagining you with one creeps me out!” he said making a disgusted face,

“You don’t need to worry about that, mind your own business!” Zoro said trying to contain his anger as his scowl deepened further and frown appeared on his handsome face,

“Well I do, if you are playing with girl’s emotions then that makes it my business, I won’t let you hurt her like that!” yelled Sanji,

“I am not playing with anybody’s emotions, I do like her very much, okay!” now Zoro too yelled opening his eyes as he sent a death glare to Sanji,

“No, you don’t like her! You just can’t!” deadpanned Sanji, blowing out smoke cloud,

“What the fuck is your problem? You are a bisexual, Law, Marco, Kidd you all are bi. What is so wrong in me being one?” Zoro asked on basis of whatever he had learned from Law recently,

“It’s not you being bi or not Zoro! You are a total loser Zoro, do you even know what to feel when you say you like her? Do you even know what you are saying? Can you do anything of what we do to keep our women happy! Have you ever flirted with any girl, have you taken anybody on date, do you even know what they do on dates? Have you ever seen any girl naked, I bet you did not, not even in a porn!” Zoro’s eyebrow twitched at his statement, he had an urge to smack Sanji’s face with his fist, but he controlled himself, Zoro did not say a word but Sanji continued humiliating Zoro further,

“What you know of a woman’s heart? It’s a delicate matter, you have to have a heart for it, it’s not some bike to fix and oil, it’s not a sword, I don’t think you think much beyond than that stuff, I mean that is why you brain grows out moss, it’s completely left unused right! How you are going to like her and make her like you back, when you only don’t know what it is like to be with someone?” Sanji said and put his cigarette back in his mouth as he took in the smoke.

Every word Sanji spoke was creating lava of anger in Zoro’s mind, his rage was boiling out of control, he just thought of Jane’s warning and controlled his anger somehow, clenching his fist and gritting his teeth, he had decided just to let Sanji talk and get it over with without replying. But he did not know what Sanji had to say next, he did not know that he could listen and endure such a thing from the one he thought he was in love with, he did not know that he won’t be able to stay impassive or in control of his own rage after what Sanji had to say next, he did not know that Sanji could say something that would kill his hopes and lower his heartbeat to the point of death,

“Cook, you control your tongue or you may end up dead even before this year ends tonight! I am warning you just shut your trap! Make whatever point you want to make and leave!” Said Zoro in a growling voice,

“You are simple cop with an odd job, you hardly own anything except for that old bike and your stupid swords, you live in rental apartment, you are so orthodox, traditional and you are damned methodical that is almost obsessive, you don’t even have decent bank balance, you owe Nami a huge debt, you don’t have any dressing sense, plus you get lost while your way back home, you have green hair on top of that! I mean I can list it all out and it won’t end for a kilometer! What makes you think you can win her heart hun? Especially when she is already been going through pain of heartbreak. She needs a real lover who could bring back the love to her heart, Ace would have been perfect choice as Law had decided, but he is unfortunately her brother, she needs a romantic like me, Marco or Law, not a nutjob like you! How can anybody be with you?” Zoro’s clenched fist were loosening, his eyes got closed, his expressions changed from angry to frustrated, he just wanted to leave, leave the whole place right then, he wanted earth to open up a hole right below his legs and swallow him up in one go. Zoro felt the time stop, his heartbeat that had threatened to stop suddenly started thumping in his chest as of it would fly off breaking free from his chest,    

With every word Sanji was literally spitting venom, his voice was filed with disgust and hatred, every word felt like whip slashing on Zoro’s body tearing open his skin, his mind went numb due to overthinking, after few seconds, Zoro  opened his eyes but not to look at the triumphal smirk on Cook’s face but Jane standing right outside window, she was holding at her cellphone to her ear while Zoro stared at her, she was talking to somebody while her free hand played with the silvery steel colored chain she had worn.

He saw the small white sword, he had sculpted out for Jane from the white rock, his gift to Jane was somehow neatly swoon in the chain along with the dog tags that were hanging around her neck, she was mindlessly caressing the object with her fingers, she was engrossed in talking but her fingers took it to her lips sometimes as she played with it. Zoro closed his eyes and sighed at thought of Jane, the way she befriended him, the way she liked being around him, the way she started sharing her feelings with him he was sure that she liked him. He knew that Jane knew what he was, what he owned, who exactly he was and what were his good qualities as well as his bad ones, she had still accepted him as her friend, even before she came to know that he was Luffy’s friend,

“Sanji, I don’t know what exactly I did to you to make you hate me so much but thanks anyway, you did mention bad things about me that I must overcome. I hope you are done now, because I really am. I wonder some times that what I saw in you and what made me think that I could make you love me back someday! Hell, my bad, you were not even worth the wait!” said Zoro bluntly,

“What the hell Marimo!” yelled Sanji, eyes wide and his face in clear wonder,

“Really? You act as if it were an impossible thing! Was that so hard to figure out? I had a little doubt at the back of my mind, about whether you being only person that my heart would ever except as a lover but when Jane came along that doubt vanished, I fell for her, fell real hard. I thought you understand what is it to be in love, the thing you so much proudly confess having understood clearly. [ Zoro snorted bitterly] There was time when I wished so much that you would come around some day, definitely you proved me wrong, I was wrong there too! I hope you enjoy the disappointment Cook, because I am not giving up on Jane and I never will! And do well to remember that what I felt for you is no where near to what I feel for Her and now it's not going to change. I do not wish to talk to you ever again.” said Zoro calmly dismissing Sanji,

Zoro’s voice sounded disturbingly calm, but it was exactly opposite to the stormy condition in his mind; that tone of Zoro's voice, those calm and serious comments hit Sanji like slap in face, Zoro did not even look at Sanji after that, he turned on his heels and left the ballroom, ignoring Sanji all together,

‘Did he just say that he thought he loved me? Did he love me? Does he still love me? No shit, what the hell did he just say?’ Sanji was beyond confused at Zoro’s calm reply.

\----------------------------  

Jane looked through the window inside the room to check up on her friends again and she found ballroom completely empty, she sighed, “What the hell?” she yelled and made her way to the central hall, she found many of her friends but not Zoro. She dialled his number but he did not pick up then she remembered he had left it in his room as they were supposed to dance, he had kept it there, she asked Jason to check if he was in his room but he was not……

“Don’t worry Jane, he is probably just lost. He does that frequently, he will be around!” Said Nami casually in relaxed tone,

“Yeah! He can get lost anywhere, you know even animals find their way back home, he is dumber than a bird!” yelled Luffy laughing which made some of them laugh too,

“Dumber than bird eh? Like you are the one to talk Luffy! Have you ever thought anything other than meat” chided Usopp,

“Meat! I want Meat!” Luffy exclaimed like it just occurred to him that he has been hungry for decades, Luffy he ran to kitchen like no tomorow, only to be kicked out by Sanji, Nami and Usopp sighed at their friends antics,

“It’s not ready yet you glutton!” yelled Sanji kicking Luffy out of Kitchen, Luffy whined,

"Make it fast Sanji!!" whined Luffy again,

"You happy Usopp! Why you had to remind him eh?" scolded Nami glaring at Usopp,

"I am sorry!" said Usopp bowing sincerely, Jane smiled slightly at them, 

'Never get tired of goofing around!!!' thought Jane shaking her head as she smiled, 

Sanji was there in the kitchen, Jane went to Kitchen to ask what had happened and where Zoro was, she entered kitchen to find Sanji working with other cooks, talking, exchanging notes, telling jokes and smiling like nothing bad had happened, she got relived seeing him smile, she made her way to him,

“Sanji, can I talk to you for a moment?” Jane asked,

“Yeah! Sure! What is it Jane chan, you hungry?” Sanji asked sincerely, his sudden question made her stop and think for a second, only Shanks asked her like that, and so did Lucci when they were together, she felt it odd coming from a friend whom she had just met,

“I am a little, but I came to ask where is Zoro? I haven’t seen him around. I mean you were talking to each other when I saw and then gone the next minute, what happened?” Jane asked worriedly,

“Nothing happened dear, we were just talking and the he left when we were finished and that is that, I haven’t seen him after that either!” Sanji said shrugging,

“Okay! No problem, so you guys cool now?” asked Jane trying to sound normal but her voice was scrutinizing,

“Sort of……I guess we are… yeah!” Sanji nodded and managed an awkward smile,

Jane nodded in turn and left, she went to her room, after putting her phone on table she sighed and sat on table, she shook her head at the thought of Zoro leaving the premises on his own. It was odd that Zoro left like that without a word, she thought of going in the balcony to clear her head,

She went to stand in the balcony, letting the ocean cool her mind off and winds ruffling her hair as she took off her snapback from her head, she looked around, she liked to look at the trees bowing to ocean, as if admiring it’s vastness, she smiled sadly at ocean but her attention was caught by a green dot in white sand and white rocks. She went to her room, asked her computer to move a camera and  zoom in the green dot,  after the process she spotted Zoro sitting on a rock, he posture was stiff, head straight as of looking across ocean and his back was facing her, she noted his tensed features even from at that distance,

‘What happened to you Zoro?’ she thought as she stood there staring at him, unaware of his troubled mind,

\------------

After hour and half of mind numbing thinking and silence shared with ocean’s roars, Zoro got up and started walking back to Manor, he felt somebody walking close behind him, he suddenly took out a knife from somewhere nobody could have guessed abut and turned backwards with ferocity of a tiger, he leaped on a figure trailing him with knife in his hand, but he was pinned down on sand the next minute,

“Je? What are you..” he yelled but she started laughing hard, he snorted at her laugh and tried to get up only to sleep and fall again because Jane pushed him abruptly,

“I could have injured you seriously Jane!” said Zoro with scowl on his face while she got off him and laughed her head off as she collapsed on her knees from laughing too hard, he slightly smiled at her and soon started laughing himself, he helped her up after the laughter died down, she sighed before she spoke as they started walking towards the manor,

“Relax Sherlock, I can defend myself, it’s actually quite disturbing that you even noted me. Most people don’t!” She said dusting her clothes of the sand while she walked,

“Well, I am cop too. How the hell you can pin me down with that thin body of yours” Zoro said arching his eyebrow, slipping his hands inside pocket of his pants, Jane noticed that something was off, Zoro was not in good mood,

“Hey, I am not thin okay! You are way too much muscly that is why you feel so. And as far as how I did that is concerned, I would say that……..you…….you have power, strength, stamina but you lack speed! May be it’s my advantage! And you are not flexible! We will work on that don’t worry!” Jane said causally,

“Where else I lack Je?” came Zoro’s troubled voice as he looked straight ahead while Jane stole a wary glance at him,

“What? What happened to you tiger? Hungry?” Jane poked him playfully on his arm, he shook his head,

“What were you doing here anyway?” Zoro asked changing the topic all of the sudden,

“I was stalking you, duh!” was Jane’s innocent answer as of that was most obvious thing to do, she was giving him big innocent eyes as he looked at her, he thought of Luffy for a second and them sighed and thought about her answer,

“Wow! What a guy like me getting stalked for?” Zoro said with a snort and again Jane felt his mind perturbed about something she did not know…..she felt his stressed heart in his voice,

“What you mean a guy like you?” Jane asked narrowing her eyes,

“I guess nobody….. more than …….a cranky……… green haired…….uncivilized…… beast….” Zoro blurted out, Jane got shocked, she stopped walking after hearing that but Zoro was looking away from her since she asked that question so he did not notice her stop and kept walking at his usual pace. When no reply came from her he stopped and looked at his side where Jane had been walking along with him, to find spot empty. He turned back to look at her, she had hands on her hips and looking at him with angry eyes. He sighed and walked to wards her,

“Sorry, C’mon, I am not in my right mind. I just needed some break!” Zoro said as he went closer to her,

“And you got one, nearly for two hours! Would you snap out of it now! I was sitting there some place behind you, watching you cussing my ocean!” Jane yelled,

“Why didn’t you come and joined me then?” asked Zoro feeling bad that he said such a thing for himself,

“Well, I was giving you privacy, I thought you need time alone, to think! And is this what you have been thinking? Moron!” Jane said narrowing her eyes again,

“I said I am sorry!” Zoro made a defeated gesture,

“Not enough Zo and what are you saying sorry to me for? You were saying bad stuff about yourself! I know how it feels, I have been there. Fuck!  Rather I am right there, right this very moment. But that moment should end or it just keeps coming back and overpowers you. You have to keep it at bay, Zoro!” Said Jane in voice full of pain, Zoro’s eyes widened a little at her statement, his mind travelled back to the day he had jumped in her balcony, he was about to confess his feelings to her,

‘That’s right. She mentioned that day, the day she broke my nose that she was not good enough for me? Why in the world a girl like Jane would say such a thing to a guy like me? I mean she is in every way superior to me then why say such a thing? Shit! That Cook stirred me up far too well that I just took off and didn’t even care that she was there……. Waiting for us to finish our fight…….. right outside the room, I did not spare thought, just took off, just left her there, shit! That was mean! If it would have been Nami instead of her, she would have bit my head off by now for doing that! not only Jane found out I was here but gave me privacy and let me handle my stuff also she is talking me out of misery even though I acted mean to her! God!’ Thought Zoro,

“You are right! My bad! So, are you going to teach me new moves?” Asked Zoro smiling,

“Nope, I am hungry, first we will have nice lunch, I will eat till my tummy is full with meat then Vivi has something in her data-drive she wants to show to all of us, we also had to decide the music and dance patterns, then after that we will go and practice!” Jane said as she motioned him to walk,

“So, you are dancing with me, partner!” Zoro asked with his smirk back on his face,

“Yep, lose that grin Zoro, it’s just a dance!” Jane said quickly as she tried hide her blush which already was noticed by Zoro by the time she stole the knife from his hand with agility that Zoro could not comprehend and ran away before Zoro could catch her and made him run after her,

“Hey!” Zoro yelled as he ran but no veil she was faster,

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_In Grand line cities, back at Lucci’s penthouse_ **

Lucci checked his mail, there were Jane’s photos with Zoro on her bike and some photos with Jane with Zoro on another bike, a file with info that mentioned the places she visited, photos at _Baratie_ and Brook’s bar, he found her with Zoro in many photos, there were also photos of the barbecue place they used to visit, she was found alone with Zoro, drinking and chatting with each other sitting close, in one photo Zoro had his hands on Jane’s waist while they were on bike, in some photos Zoro had his hands on her shoulders, one photo showed them sitting in booth with Zoro sitting too close for his liking, her head rested on his hand, he noticed some photos with Jane smiling at him genuinely.

Lucci’s anger had reached his limit, he could not see more photos, he was angered and afraid that he may find his Jane getting kissed by that green haired brat, he did not know what was driving him angry now that Jane was not his to claim anymore, neither was he her boyfriend, but he did not want any other guy taking his place too. He pulled up files finding information on the unknown green haired guy, he started reading about Zoro,

“You don’t have many days left to live Mr. Green head!” Muttered Lucci and exited the apartment, he went to his car to find Kaku sitting inside already,

“Heading to 34th street I suppose!” said Kaku in calm voice as he was seated in driver’s seat,

“Not your business, get out of the car at this instant!” Lucci said annoyed,

“That boy, Zoro Roronoa, he is also not in Grand line, there is no point in going his place to kill him.” Kaku said as he opened his palm asking for Lucci’s keys,

“Where is he?” asked Lucci said dropping his keys in Kaku’s palms,

“The place my informer does not know but definitely with Jane and whole bunch of kids, apparently she took all of them to some island away from the grand line for the winter vacation.” Kaku said relaxing in his seat,

“He is with her right now!” Lucci asked a little angrily as he got into seat near Kaku,

“Yes, definitely! But not like what you think, she is still single” Kaku said as he took his cell phone out and started pulling files of the server,

“How can you possibly know that?” Lucci asked as he saw what Kaku had pulled out from server files

He gave his device to Lucci for Lucci to see some more info and photos, Lucci looked at a photo with date stamp of date much later than photos Lucci saw earlier. There was Jane, his Jane, or he thought so, she was seated in Lucci’s very penthouse he had been sitting in this whole time, she was seated on floor, short messy blonde hair, eyes wide stared expressionlessly at a photo of Him and her together, she had it in her hand, that was exactly the one he found lying around floor when he visited the place. Her face red and tear stained, eyes puffy, biting her lower lip as if to make her stop from crying out loud. He got angry and he could not even understand why that anger was for, he could not stand the thought of Jane crying helplessly like that, to see her broken like that made his insides turn upside down,

Kaku smiled slyly as he noticed Lucci’s expression change, he was behaving like a true lover and Kaku was happy about it,

“I had placed a camera in the book shelf in your living room before we left the place just to check what those people were up to but they never came, just once when that Law had come, investigated something thought did not destroy anything or misplaced as if he never wanted Jane to know that he had been there. After that Jane came thrice, cried a lot, cussed a lot but above that nothing. I know that she is still single because we have a mole inside the very group of people she is around these days with!” Kaku said in calm voice, as he started engine and took off from there,

“Nico Robin!” Lucci said as he narrowed his eyes on next photos, Jane had been sprawled on floor of living room, probably asleep on floor, with Lucci’s photo in her hand, he sighed as he closed his eyes, next photo showed her curled up against the pillow on couch, her eyes shedding silent tears, next one had her in garden sitting on bench looking in sky at nothing shedding tears……

“Essentially! Apparently she also had some priorities over herself, she has accepted our proposal, we are ready to set up a trap for iceberg, Jane will return after 5th, we can finish by then if we find that cutty flam and take device back from iceberg, Paulie unknowingly already has given us information about the warehouse. It’s up to finding that Cutty flam now”

“So, any leads on that second suspect?” Lucci asked, as he had left all matters related to cutty flam to Kaku while had handled Robin’s capture along with Bluno, Lucci was tracing his finger on Jane’s face in photo as he looked at her with intense eyes,

“One or two, let us head to base for now. I have new info I would like to share with team and then we would do as you would plan and order us!” Kaku said smiling at thought of his best friend, Lucci, who was known to be heartless and cold as ice, now had helplessly fallen in love with Jane,

“I get to kill him!” Lucci said gritting his teeth a little at thought of Zoro holding HIS Jane in his arms, Kaku’s eyebrow twitched at Lucci’s statement,

“No more killing Lucci! What you think she is going to accept you like this? Admit it Lucci, you can’t keep acting like this, tell yourself that you have to do whatever it takes to make her come back, it gets easy after that. That’s what I am going to do. We both have lost our lovers, we can get them back, that is why I am working this hard just to create a perfect plan” Kaku said in very irritated voice as he had been recently stuck up with cleaning duty of the corpse of people Lucci kept killing for no apparent reason, getting mad at Lucci’s killing-people-if-he-does-not-like-them policy,

“I already have accepted that long back. I know I love her that is why I am trying to make deal with world government! She loves me, she would be mine the moment I tell her that I still love her! or else I will kill her and then myself” Lucci said with confidence,

“No you can’t! I welcome you to try! You could not do it back then what makes you think you can now? Admitt that you are helpless here, love can only be obtained by loving! You can’t keep on killing mindlessly and you can’t keep pretending that you were right through out, it does not work like that, you have broken her trust, her heart! You will apologize and ask her to come back to you!” Kaku said as matter of fact.

“Apologize?” Lucci raised an eyebrow at his friend,

“Yes, keep in mind that you made a mistake! We are at fault here. I have no doubt if you would have told her that she needed to die for you to survive she would have given up her life easily! You remember you almost had killed her that day! I bet that you couldn't live with the thought of killing her; you just could not bring yourself to do it. I also can tell that if you have simply told her our secret, just told her about our work, trusted her to trust her in tern she would have understood your situation. But we have betrayed her, so apology is must!” Kaku said eyes still closed and brows furrowed,

“If I apologize, would she come back to me for sure? Would things go the way they were between us?” Lucci asked narrowing his eyes on his friend, Kaku sighed before continuing as his face relaxed,

“I am afraid the things won’t ever be the way they were! You were acting differently, doing what you were instructed to and told to, based on information we had, you were not yourself you acted to be in love with her, then your behavior changed because you fell in love with for her for real, you loved her but you knew that was going to end, you just kept playing your part as her lover and you started liking that life. But in actuality, your life is this Lucci, you are a secret service agent, working for most powerful people in the world, you are bound to follow their orders, you are bound to kill on their behalf, Jane would not look at you like the way she used to when she thought that you were a software engineer!” Kaku was trying to explain him the delicate situation Lucci was in, 

“I just want to talk to her once, I am sure I can make things the way I want them to be once I get to talk to her!” Lucci said, more to himself,

“There is no point in telling you anything, now is there? You don’t understand the severity of situation.” Kaku said getting irritated at his stubborn friend,

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Rosolt Island, Ocean blue Manor …_ **

 

Zoro got out of his room, locking the door behind him and went to stand near Jane’s door, doing something on his cell phone, waiting for Jane to show up, when Law came out of his room and spotted Zoro,

“This is first time I have seen you in tux! Good!” Said Law,

“Thanks man, you think she is gonna show up in a dress?” Zoro asked

“Well that is good question, let’s bet that she wears a suit too!” Law mused,

“Oi, Law!” Zoro snorted,

“Yeah! I know, I know, tough luck Zoro, you finally like a girl, you have to like HER of all the girls in whole world hun? Never took you for a romantic.” Law said in amused voice,

“Romantic? Am I a romantic?” Zoro asked with wide eyes, expressions of surprise clear on his face,

“Well, no, not exactly, but you are with her! It’s hard to believe but you are, like she is too…..I mean not exactly romantic but you two are different with each other than with rest of us. You understand what I am saying Zoro-ya!” Law said giving him a sly smile,

“Honestly I don’t!” Zoro said sighing,

“Right! Just don’t follow Ace-ya’s weird instructions and you are going be okay! She is quite a handful but definitely nothing like all other girls you meet out there.”  Law said shrugging,

“That is what makes me like her!” Zoro replied smirking, Law shook his head and snorted, Law took his cellphone out from his pocket and did something Zoro did not care to notice,

“Enough with the heavy, just try not to compliment her, I am telling you she will blow your mind off if she really is in traditional or rather woman clothing for ball. She looks absolutely stunning in girly dresses; I have seen her in a dress just once. Here, I sent you a photo. Now you wait for your girl, I am going fishing!” Law said as he winked at Zoro and went away, now whole floor was empty. Chopper already had headed downstairs for the hall and he also was in tuxedo, so was Law, Zoro checked his mailbox to find a photo, Jane was wearing a red dress, it was as Law said, she looked absolutely stunning, he kept gawking at the photo,

After five more minutes, door of Jane’s room opened and she came out cussing under her breath, struggling with the heels as she had her dress pulled little up in her hands and she was looking down at her feet trying to balance her weight and manage her gown on her heels, she almost lost balance but Zoro caught her before she could grab the door handle earning a gasp from her, which surprised both of them equally, ‘Did i just squeak? Yuk! Wearing dress make you a girl, typical one! Shit! OMG! Is that Zoro? Fuck……. he looks hot!’

She had blue gown, no makeup, no jewelry, her soft blond hair was done nicely, pinned up to highlight her face perfectly and not messed up as they always were, she had thin white fabric glows covering all of her arms which went hidden under short sleeves of dress, dress did not show any of her skin except for neck, she looked simply elegant. Lean body perfectly wrapped in blue fabric that showed her curvy figure, long slender arms highlighted by those glows, milky white skin, long neck, her face looked so beautiful, he had an urge to touch those cheeks, take her face in his hands,

‘Shit, Law’s words are nothing, that photo does not show all the things Law, she looks more than stunning, that white skin looks even more beautiful in contrast to this midnight blue, almost like she is glowing, am I imagining things now. She is practically drugging me, I have to thank Nami and Tashigi that they thought of this theme, I could see my Jane in a gown, she looks like a princes! I want to feel that skin!’ Zoro thought,

“You are okay now” Zoro said in husky voice, she was just looking at him stupefied, not much bothered by the fact that she was in his arms for more time than necessary that she would not have allowed if she would have been in her right mind,

‘Fuck……. he looks hot! He is looking so damn hot! Shit! What the hell am I thinking? Why does he make me think like that! But fuck, he looks sexy like this! Is it even possible for anybody to be this perfect! Shit, I never thought I would like somebody in tux more than I liked Lucci in his suit, Zoro looks awesome in suit. Wait….wait…… why the fuck am I comparing them? There is no comparison; I am sorry, but shit you are kind of beautiful Zoro!’ Thought Jane,

She was stunned by his appearance, tailored tux cut to precision; it was a perfect fit, bold across the shoulders but line around waist visible, white shirt, black ….the satin lapels, golden studs, he looked like a prince, very handsome, she was speechless, she just stared at him for a minute before she felt the awkwardness and warmth around her waist, he had his hand around her waist and other on her back, she had door handle in her hand and other around his neck, she felt awkward in his arms again and quickly took away her hand looking away from his face, 

“Ahem…! My prince charming you can let go now!” said Jane in mocking voice, she was irritated at the whole dress and heels thing already, on top of that his nice appearance, his closeness and his cologne was slowly working her to blush, 

“Calm down, Jane! I have got you.” Said Zoro as he pulled her close using her own stunts that she pulled off with girls making them blush, refusing to let go of her and made her look at him by cupping her face, her eyes went wide as that was first time anybody had touched her face but Lucci, slight pink was creeping up her cheeks as he caressed her cheek with his thumb and gave out a slight hum. Zoro felt her cheeks, smiled at soft milky white flawless skin, her pupils dilated at his touch on her cheeks, she was literally trying to work with words to protest but…..

“Zoro, what are you..” her protest died down as her blue eyes were caught by his calm and deep green orbs, there was calmness and love in his eyes, she really felt calm, she felt lost in his eyes, her words vanished in her throat as she swallowed thickly, she simply couldn't look away from him, as if he had her gaze in his grasp, as if she was at his mercy, as if she had given herself to him, she felt her knees weak, her mind was going fuzzy, he brought her closer to him leaving barely centimetres distance between their faces, her body plastered to his, this was not new as he had been getting hugs from her but the way she looked into his eyes,

‘Jane, don’t blame me for stealing a kiss, if you are going to look at me like that!’ Zoro thought, ‘I have been waiting, holding myself back to find opportunity, to find the right time, I want it to be perfect, our first kiss, I want you to remember it, I want myself remembering it for eternity. I want to kiss you so badly, I don’t think my patience is going to last long if you would be in my arms like this!’ Zoro thought as he too started to develop a blush on his face as he looked at her slightly parted pink lips,

“God! You have no idea how beautiful you are, Jane!” Zoro whispered, deep red blush colored her pale cheeks, she finally took eyes off his face shying at the compliment like a typical girl, she closed her eyes and got angry with herself, her eyebrows furrowed as she now managed to think, she took his hand in hers and took it away from her face, looked away and blinked many times as if to try to make blush go away, she was just pushing him with more force, he just had to let go of her,

“What happened? Did I offend you by any means?” Zoro asked in warily as he kneeled down in front of her, she tried to make him stand but she stopped and looked confused as he took out a bag placed near her door and presented the belly shoes exactly matching the color of her midnight blue gown,

“Zoro how did you…” Jane asked as it all was so unexpected,

“Oh! I had a help of course, Vivi and Nami!” Zoro said with slight smile, she gripped the door handle, as he took  one of her foot up to replace the heels with shoes, Jane blushed deep red, again, when Zoro’s hands touched her feet,

“Is that blush?” asked Zoro with smirk,

“No, just some stupid make up!” Jane said hurriedly and looked away,

“No, it is not a make-up, you haven’t put any!” Zoro pushed his luck,

“Shut up!” Yelled Jane,

“So, do they fit fine?” Zoro asked as he put second shoe in her foot,

“Thanks, I had been practicing to dance with those on but it was hell lot of tough in heels” Jane said as Zoro took the heels and put them away in the bag had, he kept it near the door, and offered his arm for her to grab,

"Heels are bad for me too!"

"How come?" asked Jane tucking her arm in his,

"Well, they make you look taller than me!" said Zoro too quickly,

"I am taller than you!" said Jane raising eyebrow and smirking,

"No we are same!" snorted Zoro shaking his head,

"You wish handsome!" mocked Jane,

“So, shall we?” asked Zoro, she chuckled and tucked her arm in his as they walked to the Ballroom,

“Zoro you look very handsome! Really!” complimented Jane smiling at him,

“Thank God I went through all the trouble of buying clothes for this theme, I did all this to impress you, hope it’s working!” flirted Zoro smirking,

“Oh! Trust me, it is!” Jane returned his smirk as they were going down stairs.

\---------

The Ball room was decorated with warm beautiful lights and various mistletoe hanging off roof as it was the new year’s eve as it was important part of Nami’s well devised plan along with Sanji and Marco for their new year’s kiss, 

There were already people in the room, mostly boys, all in a tux, they all look so good,

“Wow! Look at these two! This calls for a photo!” Law exclaimed, somewhere from ball room,

“It surely does!” Kaya said smiling at her friend and Zoro as they came walking near her, she had backless pink gown,

Usopp quickly took their photos when they were talking and smiling at Ace and Marco….

\-----

Soon everybody was gathered, Last came Sanji as he had been helping in kitchen, he saw Proche with her arms around Law’s neck, wave of anger shot in his head but suddenly Vivi and Cohza blocked his view, he admired her and shook hand with Cohza, then his gaze travelled to Ace and Boa, they were talking and Luffy and Nami were sitting near them, Nami looked so beautiful in her red dress, Boa had lavender gown, he couldn’t help but drool over them, he immediately went over where they sat and showered them with praises.

Nami was looking happy that everything was still going according to her plan, Marco was talking to Bonny and Perona, chopper was giggling something Perona said, Kaya and Usopp had their back at him and in front of them stood Jane and Zoro blocked off Sanji’s view due to Kaya and Usopp,

‘Nami is most beautiful and happening creature I would ever see’ thought Sanji as he could not take his eyes off her, he was glancing at her nearly every second  before his eyes laid on Zoro and Jane, 

To say that he was speechless was really an understatement; he could not take his eye off Zoro. Zoro looked amazing in that Tux, Sanji had never imagined Zoro could even look this handsome.

“Sanji, see where you are going dude!” Yelled Usopp as Sanji collided with Usopp’s back,

“Hey, Sanji snap out of it!” Usopp yelled as he jabbed Sanji and brought back him to reality, Sanji never knew when he had made his way over to Zoro who stood with Jane’s arm tucked in his, Zoro gave Sanji a impassive and cold face, Sanji cleared his throat as he tried to figure out why his legs had move like they had the mind of their own,

“C’mon Zoro, let’s get us something to drink!” Usopp said, Sanji quickly gained his composure after he looked at Zoro’s cold face,

“Jane chan, Kaya chan, you two look amazing! I can’t take my eyes off you!” Sanji said as he took Jane’s hand and planted a kiss on back of her hand like he did with all the women in there, repeated the process with Kaya.

“Thank you Sanji, you look handsome yourself!” Jane said smiling, Jane motioned him to come closer, Zoro raised an eyebrow but left her hand and went to get a drink for both of them as Usopp had asked a minute ago, Jane bent forward to speak in Sanji’s ear,

“Sanji you looked more impressed with Zoro’s tux than my gown! By the way you did not notice Porche, she looks stunning, take a look!” Jane said as she retrieved back with a smile and Sanji looked at Porche sitting alone at the bar, arranged in the ballroom just for today’s party,

“You are right Jane chan, she looks so beautiful!” he said with confused voice,

“She is little off since morning, I don’t know what happened. Did she mention something to you Sanji kun?” asked Kaya,

“No Kaya chan, we actually did not get chance to talk much since two days, she is been with Bonny chan and Perona swan, she has also moved to Bonny chan’s room, she said she needed to be with them! I don’t know” Sanji said with worry in his voice,

“She is been waiting for you Sanji, it’s not good to keep your woman waiting! Off you go pretty boy!” said Jane winking at him,

“You are right, thank you Jane chan, excuse me ladies!” Sanji said as he made his way to Porche, fortunately enough for Sanji, Zoro and Usopp were standing right next to Porche, he was walking over to Porche but constantly staring at Zoro, Zoro had his back to approaching blonde so he did not know that Sanji was near there,

“Finally made it Sanji! I thought I should find another escort!” said Porche scrunching her nose, Zoro’s eyebrows twitched hearing Sanji’s name, Usopp turned a little to see what Porche was up to,

“No honey, please don’t talk like that, I was in the kitchen!” Sanji whined,

“Yes, probably all the girls are not enough for you to flirt with now you cannot seem to resist boys too!” Porche said in low voice, Zoro barely heard what she said,

“What are you saying Prorche san, you are my date, I would never do that to you, you look so beautiful!” said Sanji quickly not knowing what went wrong and why was she was acting like this all of a sudden, Usopp had wide eyes, Zoro acted as if he was not listening at all, and even if he did listen he did not seem to care,

“Well, since you entered here, you did not get time to speak to me, moreover I had gone looking for you whereas you should have come to get me, but I spotted you drooling over some pretty boy, that was last straw Sanji! I have found another date!” Said Porche as she got off the stool,

“Porche san, just listen me for a second” Sanji said panicking as he grabbed her hand gently but firmly,

“No, you listen to me Sanji.  I made a mistake coming here with you. Now, get your hands off me and do better to keep away” spat Porche as she made her way to Law who stood far away from all this chaos and was talking over phone with somebody, she glared at him walking past Sanji’s stunned form, she suddenly stopped and whispered,

“By the way I overheard to your conversation with Zoro and also the one before that, the one you had with with Zoro and Jane in the ball room, I actually wanted to see them dance but I got to know who you really are Sanji! Being player is one thing but what you tried to do to Zoro and Jane, you got me thinking what is it that you want to do with your life and others those care about you if they are….” said Porche and left him,

He saw Zoro taking a suspicious glance at him as he took two glass full of vodka, walking past Sanji making his way to his date none other than Jane, standing near Kaya, Usopp was right next to him, walking with drinks in hand for Kaya and himself,

Sanji had lost it, he turned to kick Zoro but his anger vanished as he saw Zoro smiling slightly at Jane, Sanji noticed them together, he looked at Jane again, Sanji thought of her for a moment, Jane looked beautiful today, Zoro offered her drink mock-bowing a little, she narrowed her eyes on him teasingly before taking the glass from his hands, then Zoro smirked at her as he sneaked arm around Jane’s waist and bent a bit to talk something in her ear, she slightly jabbed him in stomach with her free hand as she smiled, Sanji was just observing those two; their body language, the way they talked each other, it was amazing chemistry; Sanji just stood there dumb folded looking at Zoro treating Jane like his girlfriend already.

Sanji saw Zoro resting his hand on the small of Jane’s back like every other man did with their dates, Zoro looked perfect with his date, nothing seemed awkward and awful as Sanji had thought it might feel when Zoro would be with a girl, it was nowhere near disgusting to see Zoro with Jane like that, on the contrary Sanji felt that Jane and Zoro was most charming couple amongst all pairs standing in there and Sanji was left alone.

“What is happening?” whispered Sanji,

“What have I done? Why was I being so blind? Fuck!” whispered Sanji as he dropped his shoulders and sighed in defeat,

\-----------

Usopp and Zoro knew that something had gone wrong between Porche and Sanji but they did not know the details, Sanji sat at the bar, looking at everybody. Bar tender offered him drinks, which he turned down without out even looking at him,

After some minutes, Brook was spotted asking everybody for attention, the music had stopped completely, the chime of metal over glass ringed through the maestic hall and everybody turned to look at Brook,

“Ladies and Gentlemen, as per today’s theme, we are going to have a ball today! Arrangements are very good and place looks magnificent Jason kun, thanks. We are going to have three special dance, first that with start ball, second the new year’s eve song and third the last dance of the year which would be just before midnight. So, your partners must be present on all three dances or more correctly first two at least, we are going to record all of you dance today. You all look so beautiful!”

“You look handsome too you know!” yelled Chopper.

“He is right!” yelled Vivi and all others cheered for Brook,

“Thank you Vivi san! Chopper san! Now my dear friends, I would like to know your opinion on two things. First, I thought it would be our chance to thank to our beautiful friend, the owner of his amazing manor, Jane chan. She is an amazing dancer and I think she should be the one to start the ball.”

“Yeah, that’s thoughtful!” came reply form Nami,

“Yeah! Really that’s a good thought Brook!” Marco said nodding,

“It’s done! First dance is Jane!” Tashigi said smiling at Jane,

“That being decided, Second thing is winner of today’s competition would be decided by the proper dancer, a master of the art, I am going to send the videos to choreographers I know and they would declare results based on first two dances we are having today!” Brook offered,

“That’s okay with me!” Ace said looking at Jane,

“Me too!” Jane said as she stuck her tongue out to Ace,

“Okay then, let’s begin?” asked Boa,

“Not quite. Have all of you chosen your partners?” Brook asked,

“Please stand with your partner so that I could get a clear idea, also we have to send the photo to our friend who will be judging your performances! Come on, choose already!” said Brook,

Everybody rearranged taking their partners with them, some hold hands, some had rested their hands on back of their women, Zoro had his arm around Jane’s waist, to tell the truth he never left her, he was not going to miss any chance to be near her and Brook started counting,  

“Okay, Jane chan will start, so I would start counting with her, Jane chan is with Zoro kun, okay, Ace kun-Nami san, Marco kun-Boa chan, Chopper kun-Perona chan, Cohza san-Vivi chan, Usopp san-kaya chan, Luffy san-Marguerite chan, Jason san-Bonny chan, Law kun-Porche san, Sanji kun?...Sanji kun? Where are you?” asked Brook..

“Brook, I have injured my knee, please proceed without me!” exclaimed Sanji and that was shock to all except for Zoro and Usopp, they knew something was not right,

"Oh!" said Brook but nodded none the less,

"That is bad!" "you are going to miss the fun Sanji!" "Aww, how unfortunate!" exclaimed people,

\-------------

The music started and so did the recording, Zoro took Jane’s arm and stared the dance very gracefully, his expressions were of a professional but his eyes were uneasy giving away his anxiety, they were at two arms distance, barely touching arms, as the dance progressed, they came closer, he swallowed visibly before lifting her up with hand on her waist and taking a turn, then he had to put her down again on same spot where they had started the turn, he did it flawlessly just as they had practiced but he still was too much self-conscious and he still was stiff,

“Hey, you are doing great! We have been practicing it a lot!” whispered Jane smiling at him, he slightly nodded and smiled a little, he was too much cautious and Jane noted that,

“Zoro, look at me. Just look at me, forget everything, nobody is watching us, it’s just us, just us two!” said Jane as he put his hand on small of her back and gently pulled her close,

“Yeah! I remember, just you and me!” said looking into her eyes, as he stopped stealing glances at people watching them dance and completely stopped moving his eyeballs to look at their feet every second, he stopped calculating the beats in mind, trying to focus on Jane,

“Yes, just us. You and me! Now go with the flow, you have to lead Zoro. Take me with you, remember, just you and me, believe in yourself, let music flow inside your mind!” said Jane and smiled as she closed her eyes, her face, her voice, those words, made him forget the environment around them, he went with flow, he was not recalling the steps, just moving with beats and not calculating time anymore, his body moved on its own accord, perfectly in sync with Music.  Jane was smiling at him now, she had opened her eyes, he smiled back immediately, he was relaxed now, his body was not stiff anymore, his eyes were confident,

“I feel the song Je!” said Zoro,

“Hmm, you feel that you feel it Zo!” said Jane sweetly,

\----

After some time his feet stopped with last beat and so did his hands exactly the way they should have, Jane was in his arms, perfectly balanced, he was bent down and centimeters apart from her face, she was smiling at him,

“What happened? Why is everything so still?” Zoro asked as he blinked at Jane,

“We did it Zoro, you did it, our first dance and it was amazing! Let us stand straight now or you would get a back pain” whispered Jane smiling at him,

They all were stunned at Zoro’s unexpectedly well performance that nobody reacted for some moments, nobody had ever seen Zoro dance, let alone with a girl. Everybody clapped and cheers were heard, he looked up everybody looking at them with excited faces, whistles were heard, he moved them so that both now stood on their feet, Jane bent one of her knees a little and Zoro bowed as they finished, moved aside and music stared again and all pairs got their chances to dance.

\------------------

Zoro stood behind Jane, one of his hands on small of her back, which slowly moved so that it now was around her waist and he pulled her close and whispered in her ear,

'Shit! Zoro! What are you doing man, please stop holding me like that! I cant think straight!' thought Jane swallowing thickly,

“Hey, how did we do?” Zoro asked, hi voice felt husky,

“It was amazing Zoro, you were amazing!” she whispered back, tilting her head back to him a little,

“I was? Really? I didn’t sense a thing!” Zoro asked, he had no idea what had happened between those moments, when Jane told him to look into her eyes and time till he felt music stop, he just had gone with the flow,

“Yeah, that is a dance where male partner is in control, you lead me all the way through, you were flawless! I enjoyed Zoro, it was amazing!” Jane said patting in his hand on her waist.

“Well I had an amazing teacher!” said Zoro huskily and pulled her back to his chest a little more, the right half her back connected to the left half his chest, their one side almost touching all the way, his arm now around her waist firmly holding her to him,

“Zoro!” whisper yelled Jane, he did not reply to her protest, but she did not pull away all the way from him,

“Hey! Zoro, what is wrong! You okay? Stop pulling me man!” Jane said awkwardly,

“Would you feel offended if I say that I am okay and nothing is wrong but I want to hold you like this and I want you to stop resisting!” was Zoro's smoky voice in her ear, his breath fanning over her skin, lips just millimetre away from her earlobe, hair on her neck stood up, she felt her features respond to Zoro’s voice, respond to  his touch the way they should not have, Zoro felt her go stiff after a second,

“If you don’t like it then I will let go!” said Zoro moving his thumb up and down, caressing her skin over the fabric of her dress where he had placed his hand on her waist,

“Truth is that I like it. And it is a problem that I like it when I should not!” Jane turned her neck to face him, looked into his eyes, her face had a pleading look,

“Why not?” Asked Zoro tightening his grip over her even more,

“I told you I am not good for you Zoro!” She said warily, her eyes pleading him to let go,

“And I told you to let me decide that!” Zoro said making her turn on her feet to face him. She put her hands on his chest to keep a safe distance between them,

“I don’t want to lose your friendship Zoro, please don’t make me push you away!” Jane said closing her eyes with tensed face,

There were cheers in background and many more sounds, Brook had announced the second dance, all pairs got in the area. Jane opened her eyes and looked at Zoro warily.

Zoro took her hand and lead her to centre of the whole dancing platform, the Music started again, so did the dance. Both of them just looked into each other’s eyes, no smiles, no words were exchanged, they just were too lost into each other, they never knew when music stopped again, there were claps again, every couple was clapping and smiling, exchanging the compliments and then all went away, Jane and Zoro still stood there, in middle of dance floor, engrossed in each other, he still had arms around her waist, her hands were still on his chest,

“Jane, we need to talk!”

“Not now Zoro” she said when she moved her hands to put them around his neck and hugged him firmly, he hugged her back and Ace’s came to separate them,

“I am sorry Zoro!” whispered Jane sadly,

“Hey don’t be, look you…..” Zoro was cut off rather awkwardly,

“Hey! Leave my sister alone you brute!” yelled Ace trying to get Zoro away from Jane,

“Ace, what the hell!” said Jane pulling back from Zoro and shoving Ace away from Zoro,

“Is this fella bothering my little sis?” asked Ace as he smirked at Zoro,

“No he is not, I hugged him, now get off my face! Stay the hell away from Zoro!!” said Jane pushing Ace back and went away to have a drink,

"Whoa! Whoa!!" exclaimed Ace backing off of Jane,

“Thanks for nothing you useless idiot! Ruined my moment!” muttered Zoro narrowing his eyes on Ace.

“Moment my ass! She was about to cry!” Ace said smirking at Zoro,

“No she wasn’t!” yelled Zoro annoyed,

“I know more about girl’s psychology when it comes to flirting or wooing, so listen when I say!”

“Yeah? Tell me when a girl says….a girl like this, Jane, says that she is not good enough for me! What could Jane possibly think while saying that, eh! Genius?” said Zoro irritated, Ace threw an arm over Zoro’s shoulders,

“That means, my friend, that she thinks something from her past could be daunting for you to face, to accept or she still can’t forget her Ex!” said Ace,

“Thanks, you are really helping Ace! Now leave me the hell alone!” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on his friend

"Relax Dude!" said Ace, they made their way to bar to have drinks as ace threw his arm around Zoro’s shoulder telling him to relax.

\-------------

Evening was busy, they danced, talked, had drinks and food, exchanged gifts. They all sat at the table, chatting and joking, enjoying food, some sat at the bar, still gulping their favourite poison, mostly boys and of course Jane and Nami, Sanji sat at the corner, mostly stealing glances at Zoro and Jane, occasionally talking to Chopper, Kaya, Vivi and Cohza,

Jane was showing Zoro photos when she had danced in school talent show, they were laughing at the outfit they made her wear,

“Hey so you not mad at me anymore?” asked Zoro,

“What? I was not mad at you!” Jane said quickly,

Zoro took away her cellphone from her hand which had pictures of her childhood as he scooted near her, Jane raised an eyebrow at him,

“You weren’t? Then why you didn’t talk with me for almost half hour back there?” Zoro asked raising his eyebrow,

“I did not because you sat silent. I thought you felt bad for what I said earlier!” she said shrugging and she became uncomfortable as Zoro was close again, too much close, she felt uneasy again, she mindlessly took her hand to the chain in her neck, started playing with the small item that was hanging off her neck in a steely chain with her solider dogtag and the tiny sword Zoro crafted for her, she had taken liking to that white sword and Zoro could not hep but feel happy about it.

“You know..” Zoro’s statement was stopped abruptly with brook’s voice,

There was sound of announcement, Brook was calling everybody up for last dance and results, Zoro sighed and Jane chucked,

“Come on guys, let’s see what are the results!” Ace said and he went with Marco, Zoro and Jane made their way to Brook,

“Man, I am full, I don’t feel like dancing now!” Jane said,

“I have a solution for that!” Zoro said and then smirked at her, she narrowed her eyes on him, she opened her mouth to say something but Brook spoke again, they were standing at back of all crowd,

“Okay friends, today we had gotten an equal score between two couples, Zoro kun –Jane chan, Ace kun-Nami san! So vote up!”

“Jane and Zoro” was the exclaim in unison, even Ace had cheered them up, Jane snorted and put her hands on her ears,

“That being decided, now I announce the last dance! Grab your partner. We are just 7 minutes short of entering into the New Year! Enjoy everybody!” said Brook,

“Yay!” “Yupee!” were cheers, Music started and many couples started dancing,

Marco had grabbed Jason all of a sudden, with all these people around he could not protest much, Nami had took Luffy’s hand made him dance with her, Ace had asked Boa to dance with him, Vivi and Cohza were next to go, Usopp had taken Kaya’s hand and moved to dance floor, Porche asked Law to join her and he obliged happily, Tashigi came to where Jane and Zoro stood, Zoro was busy enjoying Jaosn's awkwardness and Ace's funny actions and reaction at Marco's face when Tashigi looked at Jane, she took Jane's hand in hers shyly, Jane smiled at her sweetly,

“May I have this dance with you Jane?” asked Tashigi with expectant eyes, Jane was about to speak but Zoro took a step towards Jane and pulled Jane close to him before she could speak anything. 

“Tashigi, I have already asked Jane!” he said bluntly to her as he pulled Jane further close as if Tashigi was going to steal Jane away, he had memories of Tashigi and Jane dancing with each other at Christmas evening and he was really disturbed at that memory,

“Zoro!” whispered yelled Jane as she had to leave Tashigi’s hand as Zoro kept pulling her himself,

“Jane, I know you are tired, it’s just for some minutes!” said Zoro horridly so as to stop Jane from talking  and protesting much, as he gestured bye to Tashigi and made Jane walk with him to dance floor, Bonny looked around and found Sanji mopping at last corner, she quickly went to him and dragged his tipsy ass to dance floor to dance with her,

\--------

This dance was different, slow and sensual, Zoro was feeling good and more confident the way he held her now, there was no stiffness in his action. He was moving gracefully, his expressions were soft, his eyes were mellow, he suddenly took her hands and put them over his shoulders around his neck,

“Oi, what you have in mind?” Asked Jane as she thought about what move his was trying to make up now,

“You!” Zoro exclaimed as he yanked her close with his hands on her waist, that sudden force plastered her body to his, blush started appearing her face immediately, her face was once again closer to his, his hands on her waist now traveled to her back, holding her body flush against his own, she looked away from him, furrowed her brows, her hands awkwardly hung around his neck, she swallowed thickly, Zoro saw her Adam’s apple blobbing up and down,

“Don’t think of getting away from me Jane, that is going to cause pain to both of us!” said Zoro in deep voice,

“Zoro, I told you that I am not ..” Jane started protesting but Zoro touched their foreheads, she instinctively looked into his eyes, he tried to disturb her balance pushing her back forcefully and she hold him tightly putting her hands around his neck properly,

“Now that’s much better!” said Zoro smiling at her,

“Zoro, listen to me, you must not…” he again cut her off,

“Shssh!! Forget about all that Jane! Look, it is clear that you like me too, I can see it in your eyes and your actions, you blush is proof enough! I have a proposal to make Jane, I am not asking you return my feelings; I don’t want you to force yourself in doing anything. You treat me as a friend, I don’t want anything back from you, just let me love you because I am in love with you Jane! ” said Zoro in sincere voice.

Jane stopped moving the moment he said he loved her, but so did Zoro, they stood still in crowd that was dancing in pairs, talking and smiling, people were around them, Zoro still had her in his arms, her face was blank, her unsteady blue eyes bored his calm green, her hands on his chest, her body went weak, Zoro could feel her weight on him, he held her firmly, he was looking at her face intently for reactions,

“Jane I said I love you. I am in love with you! And I can’t stop! As I said before, I can’t go back Jane. Say something! I know it’s so sudden, we have just met and all, but you can at least gimmi a chance to love you, I am not asking for any commitment from your side, I wanna bond myself to you!” Zoro said in calm voice, his patience was wearing thin, he was afraid of her reaction, her rejection, he did not want to lose her.

After another minute of silence from Jane, it was unbearable for Zoro, that silence was scary,

“At least say that you don’t want it then?” said Zoro sadly in tight voice and Jane’s eyelids dropped, her expressions changed to little discomfort, he felt her reluctance but her face was getting pink, he could see the blush coming to bloom on her beautiful face, his heart thumped in his chest as she gave a shiver when his breath fanned her face,

“Would you let me love you Jane?” whispered Zoro huskily,

“Why? Why love me?” asked Jane with worried voice,

“I …..I don’t know. I am just in love with you!” said Zoro as matter of fact,

“Why you love me? love me how? I haven’t done anything special for you!” asked Jane with doubt and distrust in her eyes, Zoro was shocked by the question, he furrowed brows in thought before he spoke,

“I don’t know Je, there is no particular reason that I can pick up and tell, I love all of you, you know, I like you as a whole, I love the way you are now, I love everything about you whatever little I know of you till date and that is sufficient for me to love you for the rest of my life! Does it have to be some special reason? Jane, I just knew Je…..I knew you were the one since the moment I saw you!” said Zoro brushing his knuckles on her jaw line,

Jane shot her head up to meet his gaze, his eyes were calm and warm as always, she could feel his speeding heart where her hands touched his chest, she saw his expressions, he sounded completely honest. She gripped fabric of his tux in her hand as she looked into his eyes with wide eyes.

That sentence of his took her back to time when Shanks told her about his opinion about love, the way he had feelings for Mihawk, Zoro had said exactly the same thing to Jane that Shanks had said for Mihawk. Exactly with similar expressions what Shanks held on his face when he talked about Mihawk. She never saw Lucci talking this way! Lucci never talked like this, Lucci had told her many, many reasons why he loved her, but Zoro had none?

‘What is it Jane! You...you are going to hate me now? I thought this was high time that I should tell you that I love you! Say something Jane, are you in shock? What should I do? Jane, please say something, shout at me, yell at me, punch me, just do something Goddamn it!’ thought Zoro, his heart was racing up in worry, in anxiety and Jane was just looking into his eyes as if scrutinizing him, he did not look away or disturbed her until she finally spoke,  

“Honestly Zoro, I like you too but I don’t have anything to give you back, not even love, as you have probably guessed, I had a heartbreak a few months back, my heart is already broken. What we you do with broken things Zoro? We throw them away, I also have done the same!” whispered Jane sadly, lowering her gaze.

‘She likes me too! Fuck! She likes me too.’ Zoro closed his eyes for fraction of second, he wanted Jane to say that again, he wanted to be with her, only with hwr, somewhere more private, he wanted to tell her how much he loved her, what he felt,

'Oh! Jane, you don know any thing! Just you wait I am gonna love you so much you wont ever feel like this!' thought Zoro as she moved his hand to her back, he stroked her back gently,

“I am gonna take care of your heart Jane, you anyway don’t give it a dam right? So, broken or not, it’s mine to love and you have no say in it now.” said Zoro stubbornly, she blinked at his statement, she was confused at him,

'Why would you go that far Zoro! Why?' Thought Jane dumb folded, giving him big innocent eyes she looked up at him confused but feeling happy, she felt tingling in her ears hearing his words, his deep baritone voice, his husky tone, his musky scent, her blush deepened a shade more staring at his handsome face, he was thinking and his face was unreadable now,

“Shit, I don’t know what I am babbling and I don’t know what am I gonna do. Honestly! I have never been in situation like this before, nobody has ever told me that they actually like me, I am out of my depth here Je, but I definitely won’t leave you alone ever. We would figure out everything together.” Zoro said cupping her face, Jane smiled at him shyly and nodded. He felt like he had won the world, he genuinely smiled at her shy smile and touched his forehead to hers.

Ace had heard what he said, so did Law,

‘Way to go Zoro! I never would have thought!!! You of all people would say something romantic like this! Total disaster eh! Not totally right words but expressions are best my friend!’ Ace thought,

‘I need to tell Jane about his condition and her own too for that matter! Never thought Zoro would say something like this! Zoro of all people! Jane you got different taste! First that Lucci? I was shocked beyond belief when I had heard about him proposing you and you saying yes, now ....Zoro? It's literally amazing to watch him like this and hear him talk like this. How the hell you got the fiercely unromantic people to get romantic with a very unromantic person like you! Shit! Kill me!’ Law thought.

There was long ringing of bell, it came from a huge bell, chiming somewhere in city, there was small bells ringing everywhere in the ballroom, declaring arrival of the New Year, cheers were heard, Usopp hugged Kaya, everybody was chirping and yelling ‘happy new year’, when Jane suddenly felt warm lips against her own, her eyes went wide, as wide as they could go, eyeballs threatened to pop out, her vision blurred, she never saw Zoro coming closer, he was but when did he got that close?

There was no distance between Zoro’s face and her own, his lips were on hers; warm, wet, her face was cupped in two warm hands, she felt his fingers in her hair, rather on the roots of her hair behind her ears, fingertips caressing her scalp, thumbs on her cheeks both sides, near ears caressing her face, cupping it delicately, sensuously and making her feel like she was most valuable person in world for him. His eyes were fluttered closed, that whole scene took a moment to sink in Jane’s mind.

Her heart skipped a beat and then it ran, her heartbeat was speeding up like anything, she started taking uneasy breaths, she felt Zoro moving his lips slowly and sensually on her unmoving and unresponsive ones. He tilted his head and gently took her bottom lip between his own lips, he ever so slightly sucked and nibbled on the fleshy pad of her pink plum lip, touching and stimulating her upper lip in process, she felt like electricity was flowing throw all over her body stimulating every cell, her legs felt weak.

She could not help but melt into the kiss, her face felt so heated; she pictured herself going red all over. Kiss was not hungry, not impatient nor aggressive; no, no, not at all impatient. He waited till Jane started responding back, she slightly moved her lips to match his slow rhythm and closed her own eyes, his right hand left her face and travelled to her waist, holding her close, she never knew how and when he coaxed her to part her own lips as he gently slid his tongue inside her mouth wetting her lips. It was so intimate, sensual and passionate for her, the feeling was overwhelming her senses that she did not want to resist or to dominate him, she simply accepted his sensual method of worshipping her face, granting him the entrance without single thought of dominance, her hands gripping his tux in her fists, bringing and keeping him closer, telling him not to let go.

The moment his tongue slide past those heavenly lips, she gave slight but an uncharacteristic inaudible whimper, he felt her tongue withdrawn backwards as if she was not sure what to do, he caressed the drawn back organ limp in Jane’s mouth like he was petting some frightened animal curled up into a ball in the corner, he sucked on it a little earning a sweet silent moan from her that was swallowed up by his mouth, his tongue then explored the lines of her teeth, her inner walls, she tasted like vodka.

He felt like he was drinking Jane and she was making him feel tipsy, her feet felt like jelly as she slumped downwards, she arched her back to bent backwards, her knees gave out as she dropped her weight on his hands, he held her firmly and deepen the kiss even more when she threw her head back leaning into his every touch, her tongue responded his love, sliding against Zoro’s tongue creating sweet rhythm and friction making him growl.

A wet thin line of saliva made its way out from the union of their lips and wetted her chin, when Jane made a noise at back of her throat he could not help but respond back with groan. The delicious tongue sliding made him go madder about her than he already was and his powerful tongue swirled around hers, that continued for a moment and he felt out of breath, she felt electrified when he pulled on hers gently she moaned sensually in his mouth, he had to withdraw from her reluctantly as his lungs were out of oxygen,     

When he left Jane's lips and pulled out from her to catch his own breath, he saw Jane’s limp form in his arms slumped over his body, panting heavily, face flushed red, earlobes red as well, eyes half lidded but fixed in his own, her chin wet from saliva. Zoro couldn't help but feel himself blushing, he just wanted to kiss her again. He quickly wiped clean Jane's chin with his thumb, she smiled at him slightly; he responded with same slight smile, his hand other was on back of her head and neck supporting her tired looking frame, her smile disappeared as she rolled her eyeballs back to her head, finally her brain giving out on her, Zoro got worried about her but made her head rest on his shoulder pulling her close.

He was worried about his lover but suddenly it hit Zoro, everything around him was too quiet to be true. He realized that all of them were watching the two of them all this time, enjoying themselves way too much, their so called first kiss had recorded with more than five cameras. Some jaws were still dropped down as if they had witnessed some strange thing and their eyes were still wide, one of them being Sanji……

“I had planned for new year’s kiss, not new year’s smooch Zoro! You really took it to the grand finale! Hun!” Nami said happily.

“Thanks Witch, now I am out of here! I am gonna take her to bed I think she passed out! Now where the hell is Jason?” Zoro looked around for Jason but did not found him anywhere in ballroom.

“That was too much for her, you could have let her breath a little, yeah?” mocked Vivi smirking,

“She was conscious for some moments after they were finished!” Law mocked.

“Shut up! Don’t put your nose in my kiss! Now where is that Blondie? Jason?” yelled Zoro looking for Jason,

“Oh! You won’t find him any soon. He got kissed by Marco, he looked like his heart would give out any minute. Anyways he ran away from here, Marco went after him, I don’t know what is going to happen! It turned out to be interesting evening indeed!” said Bonny snorting,

“Yeah! I wish I could record them too!” Perona said excitedly as she went away to find them,

“Perverts!” Usopp yelled,

“Hey! Watch your mouth!” Bonny shouted,

Zoro lifted Jane off her feet, she had lost her consciousness but her breathing was normal, Law came and checked her eyes and tongue then her pulse.

“I think we just have to let her take rest, her pulse is okay. C’mon let’s take her to her room, I will check her up.” said Law, Zoro nodded and bid his goodbye to everybody as he carried Jane out of there.

\---------

When Jane opened her eyes, it was chilly, air was good, it smelled fresh; pleasant early morning light was coming through large glass windows shielded by white curtains. She blinked softly; she noticed pain in the back of her eyeballs, she also felt a numb ache in her head. She looked around to find that she was not in her room lying on her own bed but she found Zoro staring back at her. Then she noticed her hand being held by his, he sat on chair placed sideways parallel with bed facing window, he was looking at her, his head turned in ninety degrees rested on headrest of chair, his legs spread out but crossed at feet, resting on bed near her own legs. His eyes were tired so was his expressions as if he had been up all night.

Jane tried to speak but her throat felt dry and tight, she swallowed thickly against the dryness, tried to clear her throat but no sound came, her delicate blond brows furrowed at the uneasiness, she managed to take long breath closing her eyes, she felt pain in eyes increasing. When she opened her eyes, Zoro was standing up near her offering her glass of water, he put it on table and helped her sit up, she felt her body very sour. Jane noticed she was still wearing her dress, it was badly wrinkled and her glows were little undone from upside, she rolled them back in position quickly. Zoro helped her rest her back against the headboard. After drinking some water she managed to speak,

“Morning!”  Said Jane in hoarse voice, her eyebrow twitched at her own voice, she felt like what she used feel to after having her silent crying sessions, her face tensed at the thought.

‘God! What the hell happened? Oh! Yes, He kissed me and I passed out on him like an idiot! But why am I sore! Why I feel like something is wrong? I feel like what I feel after getting unconscious after that stupid crying fit! The fuck happened last night? have I been crying in sleep! Embarrassing!’ Jane thought,

“Good morning Je! How do you feel? Here! Your medicine.” Said Zoro offering her a pill.

“I don’t know but I am sore all over. Am I in your room?” asked Jane, Zoro nodded.

“Medicine?” Jane asked as she took pill from his palm,

“Just take it, Law said to give you one when you wake up!” Zoro said, sitting on bed, in front of her seated form,

“Hey, sorry for yesterday!” said Jane she took the pill from his palm, Zoro shook his head at her apology as if to say ‘don’t do it’ and she then drank some water again.

He just took the glass from her hand and stretched his arm to put it back on table. She got out of blankets, her hair was complete mess, she combed her fingers through to untangle them as she put her feet on ground,

"Fuck!" said Jane feeling her feet aching,

She felt her face a little swollen and her feet seemed tired, she felt exhausted even after having a goodnight sleep, a small scowl was on her face as she tried to figure out why she felt like that, Zoro bent forwad and took her shoulders in his hands, made her sit near him.

"Zoro!" whispered Jane worriedly,

Zoro calmly caressed her cheek ,then he brushed her hair off her face and tucked few strands behind her ear,

'God! it feels so awesome when he does that! He is going make me fall for him!!' thought Jane smiling at him, he did not smile back but his eyes were tired and sad, his face looked like he did not sleep whole night, 

“So, you did not sleep?” Asked Jane to Zoro in awkward voice,

“Not much!” said Zoro in low voice, but his expressions were different, he looked disturbed,

“What happened? Zoro, I really am sorry to black out on you like that!” said Jane as she stood up, still feeling uneasy on her feet, no response came from Zoro but he just stared at her face like he was disturbed by something on her face, on her body or may be something about her was bothering him, she looked back at him, smiled slightly,

“Okay Zoro! You get some sleep now, you must be tired and I should be off. Thanks for taking care of me. See you later I guess!” said Jane in uneasy voice,

Zoro quickly stood up and took her in hug all of sudden, she felt amazing, she readily slumped on him as if her weight was too much for her feet to handle, she immediately returned his hug and hummed as she felt good in his embrace. She was lifted off her feet and next second she was held bridal style in his arms, she grabbed his t-shirt and put one hand around his neck,

“Zoro, what……..what are you doing?” asked Jane, Zoro kissed her forehead and shushed her,

“Shshh! I need to show you something!” whispered Zoro, she felt being wrapped on cotton wool, pampered, like Shanks did but yet different from his fatherly or rather motherly coddling, she widened her eyes at the thought, she furrowed brows in worry but did not say anything to object further,

They went over to the big mirror, he made her stand in front of mirror and stood behind her, keeping his hands on her waist as if for the support. She saw herself in mirror and her eyes widened. Her face was red, tear stained, eyes red and very puffy like she cried buckets, her lips were little swollen, there were scratches on her neck, trails of red thin swollen lines of skin on neck and some on face,

She closed her eyes frustrated, made her head drop down and there was embarrassment clearly visible on her facial expressions,

“Jane, you cried almost whole night! I could not make you stop crying. You were unconscious but you were crying, constantly!! Tugging on your hair, scratching your face, you see those red swollen scratches; you did that to your own skin, even with those glows. I had to change pillow under your head, it was soaked with tears.” Said Zoro against her shoulder, as he put his arm around her, her back connected with his chest, protectively covering her form from the back. She clenched her fists, her eyebrows furrowing further, she was angry at herself. She was stiff and uneasy, he felt that thing, he placed a kiss on her shoulder before continuing,

“I put you on bed and tucked you in blankets after Law checked you up. After some minutes I noticed that tears were coming out of your closed eyes, I thought you were having some kind of nightmare, I tried to calm you down, I could not make you stop crying Jane. I waited for half hour then I had to get Law again. He tried medicine but did not work either. Even with blankets you were shivering badly, I did not know what to do Jane, I am sorry but I did get in bed with you just to keep you from shivering, was trying to warm you up. I had tied your hands because you were injuring yourself.” said Zoro in low voice, barely above whisper, he put his head on her shoulder and leaned his head on hers, he tightened his grip around her,

“Then at about 3 in morning, you stopped crying and shivering. Before he went to his room, Law said that was some sort of mild panic attack and you have had one four months back which was more severe than this. That was mild then what is normal? I don’t want you to experience that again, you scared the shit out of me Je.” Zoro said worriedly,

“I am sorry Zoro, you had to see me like that. I ruined everything! I am sor…” Jane whispered with heavy heart,

“NO! No, no, no, don’t say that!” Zoro interrupted her and made her turn back to face him, her head was still down, she refused to look at him, he tried cupping her face and bringing her face up but he eyes were still down. She again dropped her head down, his hand started caressing the red abused skin of her neck, she have a shiver when his finger touched the scratch, she took his hand in her own and took it away from her neck,

“I am so ashamed of myself, I don’t even have words to express my apology in proper ways. I have given you enough trouble for lifetime and now I should be leaving Zoro, I am sorr..!” Jane sounded very sad and embarrassed, still looking away from him, 

“Je! Would you please stop acting like that?" exclaimed Zoro in frustration, she stopped talking but ....

"I care about you okay! I care about you a lot! And more importantly, I should be the one who is sorry, not you. I am responsible for this, I am responsible for your condition. I caused you this pain” said Zoro in irritated voice, she turned her head up to look into his eyes with questioning and confused eyes, he quickly ended the distance between them, and gently put his forehead on hers by making her come close as he put his hand back around her waist,

“Jane, our kiss triggered your panic attack. I….I can’t tell how sorry I am to put you through all this! I wanted the kiss to be perfect, I want to make it amazing for you, for us, I wanted to show you how much I love you. It went all wrong, so I should be the one apologizing!” said Zoro closing his eyes as he put his forehead on hers,

That brought back the memories of their kiss, memories of the love and passion the way Zoro kissed her, her cheeks started getting heated, she felt blush creeping up her face, she felt how mesmerizing Zoro was yesterday, she remembered how he made her feel, how lovely was the moment. She saw his face closer to hers, his eyes closed, his arms were around her. She felt bad for Zoro, he had to feel this burden because he thought that kiss made her go in panic, she put her hands on his chest.

‘I have never been kissed like that Zoro, you were amazing yesterday. That kiss was simply amazing! It is worth all the panic attacks I could get in life.’ Thought Jane and unknowingly gripped the fabric of his t-shirt in her hands,

“Who said it was not perfect?” Jane whispered with half lidded eyes,

Zoro opened his eyes as he quickly withdrawn back to look at her face, her eyes were relaxed, there was slight blush on her face, she had been smiling slightly,

“Jane?” Zoro was confused but it was a happy surprise,

“That kiss was amazing Zoro, I have never experienced like that, ever, simply mesmerizing!” said Jane putting her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. Now she hugged him, a wave of relief washed over him, his body relaxed, he moved a little to hold her more firmly………….


	12. Don't push me away!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco makes move on Jason, he gets mad but after getting some bitter treatment from Marco and some scolding from Jane Jason tries to talk to Marco, Zoro asks Jane to bring down her walls even if just a little, but Jane is reluctant. Where some new relationships are budding and older ones are getting repaired, Shanks and Mihawk face some problems with their relationship.

The night of 31st or rather the first day of the New Year was tough for many people including Zoro and Jane, lot of has happened in mere last few minutes of the year that was ending, many things took drastic change, made people go mad, especially Jason and Sanji. Nami had stolen a kiss from Luffy, which Luffy did not react to but she never actually expected him to respond back, she was just happy she got to do what she had planned for, she had been in love with the young racer since she met him. It was too mature stuff for Luffy to deal with, Nami was just happy she got to kiss him, but seeing this was hard for Boa Hancock, it broke her heart to no limit, to see Luffy getting kissed by Nami and Luffy smiling at Nami after she explained him why she did that to him. After the kiss and Nami’s explanation, Luffy simply said, “Oh! I see, so it is one way to say that you like me? I guess I like you too! I like you a lot let’s do that more often!” and then ran away to eat some meat.  
Law had got a romantic new Year’s kiss from Porche, even after seeing his date kissing somebody else Sanji was more upset at the fact that Zoro snogged Jane and she responded back. Vivi and Cohza had shared sensual New year’s kiss and so did Kaya and Usopp but they had kept it short and sweet unlike Marco or even Zoro for that matter.

  
Marco had decided to kiss some sense into Jason so he had forcefully captured his lips which had gone terribly wrong and made the shorter blond mad with rage, he got rattled and ran away from Marco never to show up for the night again. Marco ran after him, apologized many times, kept requesting him to open the door of his room standing right outside his room and kept asking to talk to him but Jason did not pay any attention to Marco’s pleads, finally Marco had to give up.

  
Watching Zoro kiss Jane and Jane responding back had been shocking for almost all to them, especially to Sanji and Tashigi. Tashigi had a crush on Zoro ever since he had joined up with the police but she had never seen him talking or flirting with any of the girls, he always had been loner so she had never seen him talk freely or laugh with anybody. This vacation was her chance to find out more about Zoro and try to get closer to him but she had got nothing but disappointment from very first day. But things got turned and situation had changed in such a way that she had developed feelings for Jane, she thought she had chance with Jane, she did not know what exactly she was feeling for the blond girl, she had never felt this kind of attraction towards any other girl before but Jane was different, she could not think anything other than Jane since the Christmas, she liked it when Jane was with her, she liked to touch Jane and now that kiss had broken her heart too.

  
Ace was happy that finally Zoro had made move and was going in right direction. Law, however knew why Jane got a panic attack that night, he kept thinking about his best friend and the solution to her condition. Sanji was on other hand had lost everything, his date… Porche kissed Law New Year instead of him and he could not comprehend why he felt bad when he saw Zoro and Jane kissing like that. Sanji had kept thinking about them whole night, he did not know whether he was jealous of Zoro getting a girl to kiss him back like that or he was jealous of Jane that she got kissed by Zoro that lovingly.  
On that day, first day of the New year.

  
Luffy, Nami, Perona, Brook, Law, Porche, Marguerite, Bonny, Chopper, Vivi, Kaya, Cohza and Usopp were having breakfast; many of their friends were absent.

  
“Law, is Jane okay now?” Ace asked taking bite off his sandwich,

 

“Yes, she is!” said Law seeping his coffee,

 

“What happened to her suddenly eh?” Bonny asked,

 

“Yes! Why did she just pass out like that Law? Is she..” Vivi asked worried for her best friend,

 

“Oh! Poor Jane, that kiss was something else hun!” teased Porche even before Vivi could finish her question,

 

“You can say that once again, I mean I knew he liked her and all but that was so intense,

 

never expected Zoro to do such a thing really!!” Usopp said,

 

“Super romantic! I have got it all recorded!” Perona chirped,

 

“She was exhausted that’s all may be it was too much for her! She should be okay now!”

lied Law in low voice and cleared his throat as he felt Kaya’s scrutinizing gaze on him,

 

“You sure she is going to be okay Law?” Asked Ace in serious tone,

 

“Did you look into the medicine I fixed for her Law?” asked the second medical prodigy, Chopper himself,

 

“I did, it worked fine, thanks Doctor!” Lied Law again,

 

Kaya knew about Jane’s condition about the panic attacks but she opted not to speak anything for now as she trusted Law to take care of her and she knew Zoro must have been with Jane to take care of her too, the way he had been unreally worried over Jane the whole time, the way he had been seen getting bonded with Jane, they all were sure that Zoro was in love with Jane, it was practically undeniable now that Zoro and Jane both like each other more than just friends,

 

“Sir, she is not in her room, where am I supposed to take breakfast for her?” asked a servant named Alan to Jason,

 

“Jason, make it two and add the milk shake. Here, place these pills on tray. Go to Zoro’s room, she is in there! And I would suggest you personally take it to her!” said Law in uneasy tone,

 

“Whooooo! She is with Zoro!” exclaimed Bonny,

  
“Still with Zoro, Bonny!” corrected Perona winking,

 

“Yeah! Lucky night hun!” snorted Porche batting her eyelashes,

 

“You guys crazy? She was unconscious the whole night, even when I visited in morning before I came down here she was passed out!” Ace huffed,

 

“Oh! How boring! Poor Zoro!” chided Usopp,

 

“Hey! Would you cut it out!” screeched Vivi and Nami in unison,

 

“What happened dear?” asked Cohza getting worried for his wife,

 

“She is the unconscious since yesterday! We should be worried about her, stop teasing and making fun of them! Zoro must have felt bad that he could not do anything for her, I bet he must have been up all night caring for her and worried. So suck it up you all!” said Vivi panicking.

 

“Yes, she is right! So I suggest you don’t tease or taunt them much when they show up!” said Law calmly,

 

“Not mocking anybody would be nice for once!” was comment by Marco and all of them turned their heads to look at sleepy looking Marco, he looked tired but he was smiling slightly as he usually did. Jason shot his head up at the sound of Marco’s voice, Jason secretly and quickly stole a glance at Marco. Law and Marco noticed it but Marco did not show that he had noticed Jason’s gaze on him and acted as if nothing had happened between them the last night.

“Hey Marco, good to see ya buddy! Come, have some breakfast!” Ace said, Marco went over and sat beside Ace, took an apple from the fruits placed in a basket on the huge table,

“So, what we are doing today?” asked Luffy cheerfully,

 

“We all are going shopping! We have left with valentine theme, salsa theme and plus it’s Jane’s birthday tomorrow and that would be out last day in here, maybe we should give it a break for today. No party or any theme for today, we would just relax. We can have some fun at beach a little in evening may be! Tomorrow would be the valentine theme, let us help them get together. ” said Nami sincerely,

 

“Hum, I agree!” said Marco and started taking whatever it was placed in Ace’s plate, Ace slightly slid the plate so that it would be easy to share the food and comfortable for both of them to eat,

 

“Can we have campfire then?” Luffy asked, trying to reach to Ace’s plate too but his hand got slapped away by Ace’s hand, Luffy whined and flumped down unceremoniously in his chair, Nami gave her plate to him and he started eating again,

  
“And dance!” Ace said excitedly, Jason looked at them sharing food like a couple and he simply kept staring at them. Marco had some effect on Ace, he had noticed that Ace was always so different, polite and sincere towards him,

 

“And Music!” Brook said seeping his tea,

 

“Yeah, let us keep it simple though!” Nami said, Marco gave last bite to Ace and Ace smiled happily back at him, Ace asked for more sandwiches and Marco threw an arm over Ace, they were talking something that Jason could not listen from where he stood in kitchen. Ace nodded something at Marco said in his ear and turned his head to Nami,

 

“If you are going for shopping I am coming with ya, I wanna but Jane a gift!” Ace said casually,

 

“Sure, we all thought about that” said Nami agreeing with Ace, Jason stared at Marco constantly, waiting for Marco to look at him once, just once, so that he could apologize to him in silent way, with apologetic gaze, but never did Marco look at his direction, did not even glance at the kitchen area,

 

“I am tagging along then!” Cohza said nodding,

 

“Me too I guess, if I am feeling up to it!” Marco said smiling at Ace. The cook came near Jason and put milkshake in the tray for Jane, Jason sighed sadly as he had to leave now,

Jason went to dining table, over to where law had been seated and took medicine from him to put it on the tray for he was going to take Jane’s breakfast to her, Jason again stole a glance at Marco who sat near Law and Ace, but Marco did not look back at him nor did he show any sign that he had been keeping tab on Jason’s movements. Jason felt a pang of sadness, he knew that whatever he did, where ever he went, he always had felt Marco’s eyes on him since the very first day he saw him on that plane. But today was different, Marco was distant and bitter, not even once Marco had eyed him today, Jason felt his heart sinking to his stomach at the thought of him insulting Marco’s love for him like that but he knew he should not be giving into the Marco’s demands.

 

“Sir,…Um…if I may ask,………..um…why………….why Lady Jaraquille is not in her room but in….I mean…I don’t…..I am….” Jason was uncomfortable asking like this, he did not know how he should ask but he had to as he kept reporting to Shanks but his uneasiness was easily noted by Law as Law interrupted Jason,

 

“Jason, she suddenly passed out on us yesterday and as you know very well that her room is directly connected with headquarters and Iber runs the damned place so obviously he would not let anybody else get in, we had no option but to take her to nearest room we had. I had to check her up as soon as possible. Now, if it is not too much trouble, hurry and take her medicine and breakfast to her before she freaks out on you or anybody else.” said Law with typical sarcasm.

 

Jason felt bad that he had offended Law and looked at Marco for support again, but Marco had his back at him as he leaned into Ace throwing his arm around Ace’s shoulders as he talked with Bonny and Perona, who sat near Ace, on other side,

 

“Yes, sir. A……Apologies!” said Jason in uneasy voice as he felt Law angry at himself, he swallowed thickly and quickly retrieved, he put the medicines on the tray and asked a servant to follow him to second floor,

 

“Why are you flipping out on him? He was not even there when Jane went unconscious!” yelled Perona narrowing her eyes,

 

“Perona-ya, he is here to look after what she needs when she needs and he needs to do it before she asks him to do it! That is what he gets paid for and that is what he must do!” Law said simply with closed eyes and frown on his face,

 

“Seriously! This is weird day! I am off to see Tashigi, we need to cheer her up too.” said Nami,

 

“C’mon girls let us go for some shopping!! May be it will help Boa a little too!” said Bonny excitedly.

 

\-----------

 

**In Zoro’s room,**

Zoro panicked as Jane was reluctant to talk to him and she had her face down in embarrassment as she took step away from him apologizing for all the trouble she caused Zoro due to her panic attack.

 

“Je! Would you please stop acting like that? I care about you okay! More importantly, I should be sorry not you. I am responsible for this, I am responsible for your condition. I caused you this pain” said Zoro I irritated voice, she turned her head up to look into his eyes with questioning face and confused eyes, he quickly ended the distance between them, and gently put his forehead on hers by making her come close as he put his hand back around her waist,

 

“Jane, our kiss triggered your panic attack. I….I can’t tell how sorry I am to put you through all this! I wanted the kiss to be perfect, I want to make it amazing for you, for us, I wanted to show you how much I love you. It went all wrong, so I should be the one apologizing!” said Zoro closing his eyes as he put his forehead on hers,

 

After some moments,

 

“Who said it was not perfect?” Jane whispered with half lidded eyes,

 

Zoro opened his eyes as he quickly withdrawn a little back to look at her face, her eyes were relaxed, there was slight blush on her face, she had been smiling slightly,

“Jane?” Zoro was confused but it was a happy surprise,

 

“That kiss was amazing Zoro, never been kissed like that, it was simply extraordinary!” said Jane putting her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. Now she hugged him back firmly, a wave of relief washed over him, his features relaxed, he hold her with slight smile playing in his lips.

 

“Law said your room would not open to anybody so we brought you here, just next to yours. Jason had disappeared suddenly, I just could not find him anywhere, he could have have been big help actually, we needed some medical supplies and many other things. Well lot of weird things happened yesterday, we actually have become totally dependent on that kid. And before I forget, your phone buzzed like 6 times after you passed out, I guess it was your dad. Same number as that day you gave Luffy your friend’s bike to drive!”

 

“Holy shit, you remember that number! Zoro you are…….[Jane sighed]……never mind! What you mean Jason vanished?”

  
“Well that was obvious, it’s not his fault, Marco kissed him all of a sudden. He must have had lost it!” Zoro snorted at the memory,

 

“Really, Marco said he would take it slowly. But still running away is not an option!” said Jane and she gave a sigh.

  
“Oi! You! Go easy on him okay! Poor Jason! He is really emotional and sensitive!”

 

“It’s not done Zoro, he can’t keep avoiding him forever, he loves him too then why hiding, he can’t keep mourning over what he can’t change! It’s the past!”

 

“Same applies to you Jane!” Zoro quickly said.

 

“Yes! You are right! But I am not hiding Zoro, I am not avoiding you and I did not run away after you kissed me!” Jane said in amusing tone and tightened her arms around him,

 

“Jane, how do you feel now? You wanna tell me what happened? I mean were you really having bad dreams? You just can’t let this go on like that, you need to share what is going on with you.” whispered Zoro, stroking her back, making soothing movements with his hand,

 

“I feel like I have returned from a war. I am a wreck, I need a bath and I need to get out of this dress! I don’t really remember having any bad dream Zoro!” whispered Jane,

 

“How about you telling me what’s going on with you for real Jane!” asked Zoro in deep voice,

 

“How about I take you to my room? I know you wanna see it!” asked Jane,

 

“What you mean, I am practically there in your room every night I jump into your balcony!!” said Zoro confused at Jane’s question,

 

“Zo! That is not even one third of it!” said Jane in amused voice.

 

“Should have known! May be it’s really like Usopp says, you are all about surprising people, you like to show off!” said Zoro,

 

“Of course I do you idiot, it’s worth it, and anyways it is a cool surprise. Come, you will get to meet Iber!” Jane said pulling out from him.

 

“Should I know what that supposed to mean?” asked Zoro as he let Jane grab his hand and drag him the way she wanted,

 

“I had thought I would keep him hidden till you actually become one of us, you know a Hawkeye agent! But that is gonna take another month since or so for you to actually start coming to the office. You will go through intense training and test sessions before I can even choose you into my team. And I am not waiting for that long! May be you will like him?”

 

“Don’t tell me!! You have a four year old kid locked away in the palace ocean blue to keep him safe from outer world!” chided Zoro,

 

“No, he is actually five!” responded Jane in mocking tone as she opened the door, he snorted at her comment and shook his head,

 

The moment they were out of Zoro’s room, she spotted Jason making his way to them. Jane’s body language suddenly changed as she saw him making his way over to them, she suddenly appeared mature and stiff, stuck up, all of a sudden; she was cracking jokes and teasing Zoro just a second ago, she was relaxed and laid back just a moment ago, but now her posture was like a boss ordering her men. Zoro’s hand was left as he stopped when she gestured him to stay back, he stood a good distance behind her, he still wanted to keep his arm around her waist but her changed demeanor had told him to keep away for now.

 

Jason asked Alan to stay behind and went over to her and bowed quickly before straitening himself,

 

“Good God! Your highness, are you okay? You look …umm…….ill!” warily whispered Jason stealing a glance at her angry face, he knew he had it coming,

 

“Yeah! I am okay thanks to Zoro and Law. Now tell me where you had to run off to when they needed you yesterday?” asked Jane in such a sharp and cold voice, Zoro’s eyebrows twitched at her icy tone that Zoro felt like it must have hit like a bucket of cold water on Jason’s head. He thought he was out of an earshot but he still could hear them talk just a little bit, he could make out what they were talking about.

 

Jason had it coming he knew, but it was far too much for him to handle, he already had the sudden kiss and his troubled heart to cope up with and now Marco’s bitterness, Law’s sarcastic angry comments, Jane’s scolding were making him feel bad and he felt like he was a criminal,

 

Jason got down on knees immediately, his head dropped down, his eyes found a spot of floor to gawk at, servant behind him got panicked as he saw Jason, man who Jane trusts the most with her work and the one who runs the house, the one whom all other servants answer to, the man who was respected by all other servants kneeling before her, he had no choice but to follow the suite though he did not hear s single word spoken, he balanced the tray in his hand and kneeled down immediately,

 

“Jason, what is the meaning of this? Answer my question, you know I don’t want you to kneel like that. Stand up immediately!” Jane spoke in low voice, barley above whisper, she sounded pissed off at him, her voice becoming angrier and sharper,

 

“That was an order Jason!” said Jane in sharper voice but low volume, Jason stood up all of a suden and so did the other guy, she narrowed her eyes on Jason and Jason bowed quickly before her spoke,

 

“Apologies my lady!! Yesterday was ….was just so hard on me, I shall make sure that it won’t happen again, I shall be always at your service at all the times!” said Jason in low voice, similar to her but his tone essentially apologetic, Jane looked away and spoke a little louder looking at other servant,

 

“Alan, keep the tray on table and leave us!” Jane said looking at other guy, he quickly gave a bow, immediately put the tray with the covered foot plates and bowls on the table near the door of Jane’s room and scooted back. When he went away Jane spoke again, in same icy and sharp tone,

 

“Stand straight Jason! You have been reorting to Shanks, right?” asked Jane and Jason’s eyes went wide,

 

“Y…..Yes My lady!” said Jason standing straight but looking at the floor neat his feet,

“Then it was your duty to keep a strict eye on me, not run away like that. I did not recall spending my time to train you for ‘how to act like a wuss’!” Jane said in modulated but cold and impassive voice, keenly looking at his face. His face was wary and frightened. Though Jane was angry and she was so tired, she did not yell at him, she did not raise her voice or changed her tone though she had every right to. She scolded him but did not insult him, Zoro noticed her way of treating the guy and healing his wounds,

 

“It was so sudden, I just couldn’t handle!” whispered Jason in low voice,

 

“No it was not! If it was more than you could handle, you too would have passed out like I did. But no, you ran away. I know only one word for people who behave like such. They are Cowards!” said Jane, her words hit like slap in a face; he shot his head up to meet her cold gaze. His eyes were wide and his face showed embarrassment,

 

“My lady?” said Jason choking over his own words,

 

“Jason, you should know that running away is not what I would like you to do in any situation. You would rather run away from scene than facing your demons. Is that what you took a vow of getting stronger for?” asked Jane,

 

“My lady, please do not..”

 

“Jason, I know about you two, he told me long back. Look there is nothing wrong with you two being together if you both love each other. I would suggest that you talk to him about it, sort it out and tell him whatever you have on your mind, share! Or at least tell him to stop trying and stop waiting for you to come around, if you really don’t want to be with him at all. Do whatever you like to do; but do it like a man!” said Jane coldly,

 

“I made a huge mistake!” thought Jason aloud with wide eyes and pained face,

 

“You did! Have the audacity to tell him to fuck off your ass or if you want to keep playing with him do it but don’t do it in my house! Right now he is my friend and our honored guest, treat him like one!”

  
“I am terribly sorry my lady! I would solve this matter today itself. I shall not run away from any situation. Please forgive me this time.” said Jason sadly, bowing his head down.

“You are dismissed!” said Jane closing her eyes, he nodded and left them.

 

\------

 

“Shit, where the hell did you learn to talk like that?” whispered Zoro,

 

“Jason is special case Zoro! I have to be like that to him. He has to accept that he can have a life if he choose to accept that what happened happened long back and was not his fault and he can’t do shit to reverse it!” said Jane.

 

“Figured that much myself!”

 

“Come!” said Jane gesturing him to follow,

 

She sighed as she made her way to her room, opened the door, there was small area, not more than four by four feet and 10 feet tall, covering in white walls made out of something Zoro could not guess, he got in the area just behind Jane. It was cozy, as area was small, she pressed her hand on the glass panel that popped up from the white wall, her hand got scanned and another glass panel popped up with another black slit that got opened with two slim robotic arms and whole area got scanned with red lite beam passed over them,

“No weapons detected, Safe to proceed for retinal verification!” was a computerized sound as a probe and some beeping light thingy came out along with stand to place a face and chin on, she rested her chin on steel stand and her eyeball got verified for retinal scan,

“Waiting for the voice confirmation” came a computerized male voice,

 

“Open it up Iber!” said Jane as if to talk to that voice, Zoro raised his eye brow but kept quiet, a small window opened,

 

“Scan complete!” said the male voice,

 

“Welcome and Good morning Ma’am! Another person identified. Zoro Roronoa. Authorization pending” said the male computer voice,

 

“Morning Iber and yes he comes in too, update Zoro’s clearance level to 6.” Said Jane and the white surfaces before them slid open like the sliding doors and what inside was really beyond Zoro’s imagination,

 

A big room, thrice as big as his current room in the Manor, he was awestruck by the beauty of the lavish room, it did not look at all like the traditional room they were staying in. It all was ultramodern. He saw a slim, big blackish screen embedded in light gray wall, which he guessed was a TV, there were glass panels and screen on every wall, many tiny lights and sensors scattered around room, a book shelf embedded in wall, just a small line of books. He could see a small black button and open DVD slot in the wall itself just below the TV screen which Zoro guessed as DVD player or music player. He could see Xbox, he spotted small speakers scattered around room. There was nothing bit a king size bed with no headboard or legs, it looked like it was floating in midair. The walls in room were different in structure, no wardrobe, no doors, no windows, no curtains, no AC, nothing. Room was totally empty and totally clean. Everything was either white or gray.

“Umm, Jane, what is this? A safe house?” Zoro asked confused,

 

“Welcome Mr. Roronoa Zoro. This is Jane’s bunker or she prefers to call it as her personal chambers or in nutshell her bedroom. And it is indeed the safest place in the whole island! We have prepared it in such a way that not even nuclear war would affect the personnel inside the room.” A computerized voice said again.

 

“Kill me!” exclaimed Zoro but his eye went wide as she suddenly jumped near him and put her hands on Zoro’s mouth. There were mechanical robotic arms protruding off the ceiling when Zoro noticed where the sound came from,

 

“Easy Iber! He did not mean it, by the way add that phrase in your TSF vocabulary.” Yelled Jane,

 

“Dear Zoro, that’s our Iber for ya! He is too smart for his own good! Iber, please would you make it feel like it’s morning. I feel like a fucking prisoner in here, we are not under attack are we?” said Jane and took her hands of Zoro mouth.

 

“We are not ma’am!” said Iber.

 

“I am gonna go and take that tray in, you hungry?” asked Zoro, she nodded.

 

“Yeah! Good idea!” said Jane,

 

\----

 

She took tray form Zoro’s hand and pressed something on floor with her foot, a table emerged out form ground and it was white too. There were two air sacs those got filled with air within seconds to transform into comfy chairs. She put the tray on table, but Zoro noticed that conditions in room were changing like he had never seen before, three windows and two doors opened up from wall as if they always had been there, temperature was set, glowing red numbers indicating temperature of room, TV got started on its own it was showing the Islands’ local news, the glass pane on door facing ocean showed the high tide and low tides indications and that day’s weather conditions were displayed on the glass door that Zoro’s guesses opened to another room.

“Zoro I need a to go to the bathroom, see you in ten, fifteen minutes!” said Jane opening a door which scanned her hand again,

 

He was overwhelmed by the things in there, he simply nodded at her and she vanished inside the door that closed and it felt like Jane has just walked through the wall. Zoro sighed and looked around the room some more,

 

“Dude, everything looks auto!”

 

“You are correct sir, almost everything is controlled by robotic arms and machines, except for some manual things.” Came the male computerized voice again,

 

“Oh! You are quite cleverly humanized. You are a computer aren’t you?” asked Zoro,

“Indeed, I was created 5 years ago and I am an Artificial Neural Network and DCS that is distributed control systems based supercomputer. I am not at liberty to give away any more details.” Said Iber.

 

“Fair enough! So, you run the house?” asked Zoro as he tried to figure out from where exactly the sound came as he looked around the room,

 

“Just this room and some parts of the headquarters. I am linked to the main system server.”

 

“Okay, so you are linked to Grand line office?” guessed Zoro raising his eyebrow,

 

“That would be correct!” 

 

“They know that I am in here!” muttered Zoro, more to himself,

 

“Pardon sir?” asked the computer,

 

“Nothing Iber. It’s my first time to talk to a computer you see.” Zoro said in amusing voice,

“Anything I can help you with sir? News, Music, Movies, games, drinks, photos. I have live feed of various views, may be one from ocean or from the garden area you would like to check.”

 

“Can you tell me about a guy named Lucci?” Zoro said in low voice. After some seconds of silence, a glass screen pooped out from a wall near bed, blinking and making a small beep sound. Zoro hurried to the screen, there were numerous photos and names and files sliding up and down the screen as of it was alive and then it stilled,

 

“Three thousand and seventy nine minor detections, One thirty four genuine references for the name Lucci, cross referencing to Grand line city contacts, found fourteen valid identifications” Came Iber’s computerized voice,

 

There were fourteen files displayed on screen. Zoro clicked on the files one by one and started reading from them; he stopped at the file that said Rob Lucci. He clicked to read further, he found a guy working in software company named water seven, the guy was tall, handsome, raven hair, he was exceptionally talented as his records mentioned, his address was mentioned, he owned a penthouse in the grand line, he owned a blue chevy, Zoro took all information in, he took his cell phone and tried to capture the image of info in phone but phone vibrated and got turned off on his own,

 

“I am sorry sir, you cannot take photos and make calls from here without proper authentication from Ma’am Jane.”

 

“I see. You people sure are smart.” Said Zoro,

 

“Where have I seen you before Mr. Rob Lucci?” said Zoro looking at Lucci’s photo.

 

“It is a possibility that you may have come across him as you both live in same city and visit same places sir!”

 

“Same places?” asked Zoro.

 

“Yes. According to the data and your clearance level in here, I can tell you the names of some of the places you both visited in last few months are, Baretie, Bob’s bar, Brook’s club, Davy-back corner.”

 

“Holy shit! Baratie.” Whispered Zoro ‘Jane dropped me there and then went to talk to this guy. After that I had to leave. Shit! Something must have happened that day, she did say she had a bad day, it was nearly four months ago! I have to visit this bastard; I have to remember this address’ Zoro thought as he narrowed eyes on the address.

 

“Okay Iber, enough with this guy, tell me what’s going on in Grand line!” said Zoro and screen started showing the local news of his city on screen,

 

After about seventeen minutes that Jane had disappeared, she came out suddenly, she had a blue boyfriend jeans and cool gray baggy full sleeves T-shirt on with black snapback on her head and she looked at Zoro engrossed in watching news, standing near the screen,

“Oi, make yourself comfy dude. Iber, would switch over the screen 4 to TV now?” said Jane,

Whatever Zoro had been watching got displayed on TV screen too. Zoro went over to her and they had a breakfast while watching news and chatting a little.

 

\--------

 

When they made their way out of the room to main hall, they found whole mansion empty, no voice of Luffy, chopper, Usopp were heard neither giggling of girls or no screeches, it was calm and quiet for a change, she was told that almost everybody had gone out for shopping and only Marco had stayed back, he was in his main hall watching movie on TV there as he laid on the big sofa, he noticed /jane and Zoro and waved at them,

 

“Hey!”

 

“Hi!” said Zoro and Jane in unison,

 

“You okay now Jane?” asked Marco,

 

“Yep, thanks man!” Jane nodding,

 

“Jane, I need to have a word with you in private!” said Marco uncomfortably, Jason was there standing at a comfortable distance away from whole scene, his eyes widen a little at Marco’s question. Jane nodded at him,

 

“Zoro I will be back!” said Jane and motioned Marco to follow,

 

Jason’s heart felt thumping hard in his rib cage, he wanted to scream at Marco, to tell him that he can’t be with him the way he wants because he just cannot accept his past. Marco just would not understand the thing, now he had decided to ignore him completely; Marco now would ask other servants if he wanted something, he would not even spare a glance at Jason. He behaved as if Jason did not exist at all, as if he was some transparent object, as if he would see through him. Marco had been acting very bitter since the morning and Jason did not know how to talk to him as he would not look at him nor did he reply to him if spoken to.

 

\------------------------------

 

Zoro and Jane were engrossed in the Xbox and screen as they played their favorite game, Marco was really enjoying watching them play and beat the shit out of each other. After some time he stood up saying the he would get something to eat and went to kitchen, he spotted Jason seating in main hall, typing something in his laptop, he ignored him and walked faster to kitchen. There was nobody there, he went to fridge and found various items to eat but sighed as he did not want any of it, he finally closed the fridge and went to bar, took out beer bottle. He turned back to find Jason standing in door way, he ignored him as he opened the bottle and took a seep as he walked to get out of the room, Jason moved a little to be standing in his way,

 

“Move damn it!” said Marco closing his eyes,

 

“I just want to say sorry for yesterday” said Jason in weak voice, Marco felt bad for treating him like this but he was done asking Jason to open up,

 

“Fine. You said it. Now move!” said Marco in irritated voice and Jason cringed at the impassive tone and quickly moved away, dropping his gaze down,

 

Marco opened his eyes to see that his path was free so he started walking, he was walking past Jason and for the first time in that day since morning Jason felt Marco’s eyes on him the way they always have been before Marco had gone distinct. Jason could not help but feel overwhelmed, he immediately took hold of Marco’s arm and made him stop,

 

“Marco, I am really sorry!” said Jason in weak voice again.

 

Marco took his hand away from Jason’s grip a little harshly but it came out harsher than he meant to be. He walked past and moved forward to walk away but then stopped, sighed tiredly and turned back to look at Jason with hurt in his eyes, Jason made apologetic face,

“I want to talk to you, please.” Said Jason finally,

 

“About what?” asked Marco,

 

“About…I want to talk about us! About me!” said Jason looking down at his feet,

 

“You sure?” asked Marco furrowing his eyebrows,

 

“Yes, please follow me!” said Jason and looked at Marco,

 

Marco still had an angry look on his face, his eyebrows pulled in scowl, his lips twitched in frown,

 

“No more hiding! I want to share something with you which I thought I could not but now I know I should!”

 

“Did Jane change your mind? Or you just follow her orders there too?” spat Marco coming near to shorter man, Jason tilted his head up to look at his lover, his eyes were fixed on Marco’s,

 

“She scolded me yes, but what to do is my decision, I want to let you in on something very private to me that nobody knows and I want you to understand that I am not your Jason anymore! You need to know why you should treat me like you treat every other servant in here!” said Jason firmly, that made Marco grit his teeth, he narrowed his eyes on Jason,

 

“I don’t need to know anything! I don’t want to know anything! I will find out a way to get you out of my head or something but I won’t bother you anymore, I will make peace with your absence, now don’t bug me! Goodbye!” said Marco and turned on his heels, Jason grabbed is arm again,

 

“Don’t say it like that! Marco, I still love you! You need to listen to me, we need to sort this out!” was quick and panicked reply, Jason was pleading him to stop,

Marco suddenly turned grab hold of Jason’s hand in his, yanked him close, fisted Jason’s hair at back of his head and made him look into his eyes, Jason went off balance and put his palms in Marco’s chest to balance himself as Jason tiptoed when Marco forcefully brought him close,

 

“Only one of it can be true!” whispered Marco narrowing his eyes on shorter blond,

Jason made confused face,

 

“Either you are not ‘my Jason’ anymore or you still love me! Which is of it is that hun?” whispered Marco and Jason’s face flushed red,

“Marco!” panicked Jason his eyes watering at Marco’s words,

 

“Look, I told you like thousand times before, I don’t care about the past, just let go off that thing, I am here now, we can be together now, if you still love me the way you did back then; then no matter what horrible things you think have happened to you, you will be the Jason I loved!” said Marco in deep voice, lifting Jason off his feet and crushing his thin body on his chest.

 

"I still love you Marco! Very much!” whispered Jason weekly putting his arms around Marco’s neck, hugging him back, Marco have a sigh of contentment as he held the lean lanky boy in his arms, tightening his grip over small man,

 “Finally! Why you had to avoid me like that, you idiot!” scolded Marco sounding irritated,

Jason broke into tears and closed his eyes as warm salty water rained down pale cheeks, he cried like dam had broken, he started sniffling and sobbing like a kid. Marco made a worried face before he picked Jason up in his arms bridal style and started walking towards his own room instead of Jason’s.

 

\-------------

 

Jason was gently put on a bed in Marco’s room in sitting position on the edge with Marco standing between his legs, after putting Jason down Marco pulled back to look at Jason’s tear stained face, he sighed and wiped the tears of Jason’s face, Marco stroked his face trying to comfort the man in tears, Marco ran fingers through the smaller man’s hair, Jason did not stop but closed his eye for even more water to come out.

 

Marco sat near him and took him in hug, he knew Jason was emotional and he had an idea of how horrible things were for Jason to handle, Marco stroked his back trying to sooth his troubled mind,

 

“That day I thought I forced myself on you, I couldn’t control myself Jas, I couldn’t sleep the whole night, next day I visited your place first thing in the morning, all I found was John pissed off and helpless. He told me that you never came back home, I was so shocked and rattled up. I thought you hated me and left. I tried to find you, I looked for you for so many days, I used up all my resources but I failed. John moved to different a place, I couldn’t even visit and find some solace in talking to john, asking for his forgiveness, he never shared with me what he did to find you, never did he told me that he needed my help.  He never really liked me.”

 

“Marco!”

 

“He hated me so much that he did not even cared to inform me that he had found you back and you were alive and well. I cursed myself for days, for years and thought of thousands of different other things that I could have done to make things different, to make you stay, to make you stay at my place that very night, I shouldn’t have never let you leave and you would have been in arms all this time, we could spent years together by now. It was killing me Jas!”

 

Jason hugged Marco putting his hands around the bigger man’s neck,

 

“You did not force anything on me, I was being just a coward. I wanted to come back the minute I left the building but never got a chance. It was not your fault that I got caught!” whispered Jason hiding his face in Marco’s t-shirt as he gripped fabric of Marco’s clothes and snuggled closer. Marco pulled back, put his finger under Jason’s chin to tilt his head and make him look at him,

 

“It’s all my fault but I have got you now, I got you back and I beg you to trust me this time! I want to be with you baby!” said Marco brushing his finger on Jason’s jaw line,

 

“You are not going to love me when you will know where have I been and what had been done with me!” whispered Jason weakly,

 

“Jas, you don’t need tell me, I can see even thinking about it has caused you this pain, I don’t need to know that, I promise there won’t be a moment in our life where you would be recalling that time ever again. I am not saying I am perfect and I will always be at my best, that no problems would be faced by us but I sure as hell can tell that I won’t leave you alone and we will deal with everything together!” Jason shook his head, Marco’s eyebrows went up in worry, he pulled Jason on his lap and kissed his forehead,

 

“Hey! Calm down, don’t remember bad things, Jas!” whispered Marco.

 

Jason gave a shudder and put his face in his palms before he spoke,

 

“I am not the same Marco, I was captured by slave traders, they sold me off to different people, powerful people. I was slave, a body slave, I was raped and abused and used, I don’t even know how many times he violated me in every way humanly possible!” cried Jason in pain, tears won’t stop, his body was trembling, and Marco gritted his teeth,

 

“Jas, stop! Okay! I don’t need to hear that!” yelled Marco,

 

“I wanted to die, I did try, even after I was freed of slavery by lady Jaraquille, I tried to kill myself..”

 

“Jason, you don’t need to tell me about all that, you don’t need to recall those things baby!” Marco tried to stop him but Jason continued,

 

“We were just low lives serving or masters with our bodies; I threw up for many days then I got used to it, I used to scrub my skin so many times to get that feel off me, I still feel that stench sometimes on me, I still throw up when I get a nightmare about it! I am not the same Jason you knew!”  came Jason’s muffled voice. Marco held his trembling body close to his and tried to move his hands off his face,

 

“I can live with you throwing up after the nightmares, because there won't be many, I am making them go away!” said Marco softly, he took off Jason’s palms off his face and kissed him gently on lips,

 

“I am sorry Jas, I am sorry you had to go through that! and I am sorry it was not me who saved you from there! I wonder sometimes, if it wasn’t for Ace who talked me into this vacation thing, I would not have even see your face at all! I could not have gotten a chance to thank Jane for saving my love!” said Marco smiling slightly at sobbing blond, Jason nodded and rested his head on Marco’s chest,

 

“She and her team saved many of us, some of us got killed in cross fire but they rescued most of us, some of them died too, she blamed herself for the deaths but it was good that they died instead of remaining there, some were even worse than me!” Marco felt Jason giving a shudder again,

 

“Worse?”

 

“Yes, where I had to face the same man daily, they had to face many! He at least gave me enough food and clothes, others were not given good food, they were dressed like prostitutes, used to take them left and right, felt awful, I was not hurt much, they were bonded, abused daily, saw so much…enough for lifetime!” whispered Jason and sighed,

“Forget about it! You are safe now and you got chance to start from a scratch, I know it had been very difficult for you but I just think, Jane and her people had made it more than just safe for all of you, they gave them life, they offered them jobs, they trained for self-defense, they offered education who lacked it, so it’s your duty to live the remaining of your life to the fullest! She deserves nothing less!” said Marco gently moving a little so as to lower Jason to bed,

 

Jason was pushed on soft bedsheet with his back on the bed and his lips were caught in pair of another lips, he gave a moan as kiss progressed and Marco smiled in kiss, Jason took Marco’s face in his hands and responded kiss with equal hunger as he was feeling being loved again,

 

“I missed you Jas!” said Marco in kiss, his hands worked on Jason’s shirt to take it off, revealing his pale body, Jason gave a whimper as Marco pulled out from the kiss and made him sit up, he took off Jason’s shirt by gently sliding the cloth of his shoulders, he put his palm on Jason’s chest, over his heart, then he put his other hand on Jason’s shoulder and pushed him back to bed kissing him again,

Marco’s hands wandered on smaller man’s body, he unclasped his belt to remove the slacks, he took out the belt, his hand slipping down and finding the semi hard member, he rubbed his hand on Jason’s member and made him shiver in want,

 

Marco’s other hand travelled on his back, sensually tracing his arched back and his spine down only to stop at sudden feel of irregular skin on his back. Marco pulled out from his lips, drew back his hand from Jason’s pants and turned him over to make him lay on is stomach,

 

“I am marked as a slave for life!” said Jason in tight voice,

 

“It’s burn mark!”

 

“Yes, it is!” said Jason turning back to face his tall and handsome lover,

Marco sighed in disgust and slumped over his lover closing his eyes,

 

“I am sorry!!” said Jason, running fingers in Marco’s hair.

 

“No moron, it's not your fault! I feel bad, really, why you had to go through all that! You never did anything wrong to anybody, you are hardworking, honest and kind person, so selfless, I love you for that! Why it was you and not me to face such a pain!” said Marco disappointed. Jason could see Marco’s face all sad and disappointed, he swallowed thickly and blinked at the thought that had just popped up into his mind to make the heaviness in air to go away, he bit his lip shyly before he spoke,

  
“I doubt you would have taken it in your ass! You would have ripped them apart before...” chided Jason, Marco narrowed his eyes before he sat up and looked at his blushing lover underneath his body,

 

“You bastard! Don’t you make joke about that! Now you are going to pay naughty little boy!” warned Marco and crushed his lips on Jason’s, he slid his hand in Jason’s pants and stared pumping him up, making Jason moan in need, Jason pushed Marco back playfully but Marco started groping his ass. Jason’s hips were rocking now, his member twitching every time Marco pinched his nipple teasingly. Marco was hard, so painfully hard watching Jason quiver in his bed, shiver under his touch, just like when they used to make love back then,

 

“Marco! I want to..” said Jason breathlessly, Marco slid down and took Jason’s achingly hard cock in his mouth and started to suck him off,

 

“Aaagh! Marco...... D...Don’t!” yelled Jason trying to squirm away from Marco’s pleasuring mouth on his meat,

 

“Don’t! Don’t do it …” said Jason, but he felt Marco grabbing his thighs and he shoved Jason's hardness down his own throat taking him whole in, Jason’s cock head hit back of Marco’s throat and Jason threw hi head back and closed his eyes in the sinful pleasure of Marco's mouth around his shaft,

 

“Aaargh! I am coming! Coming! Marco!!!!” yelled Jason screaming, spurting his semen inside Marco’s welcoming mouth…

\-----

  
Jason was panting after his powerful orgasm, Marco crawled up the bed and slid near his breathless lover, Jason was smiling slightly and shied away when Marco smirked at him.

 

“And you wanted me to stop!” chided Marco, as Jason tuned on his side to show him his back, Marco snorted at his shy actions,

 

“You didn’t have to do it! I insulted you yesterday! You should be angry at me, not sucking me off!” said Jason catching his breath.

 

“Yeah? Well; that privilege comes with being a lover! Now get your ass back here!” ordered Marco and pulled Jason to his chest again. Jason turned on his other side and curled up against Marco’s bigger body,

 

“That’s not fare! You stripped me down naked and you still dressed like that!”

 

“You had been enjoying watching me roaming around shirtless! I have caught you gawking at me many times but I could not get that joy now, could I?” chided Marco,

 

“Hey! I ..” Jason tried to protest but he was shushed by Marco’s finger on his lips,

 

“Stop complaining and undress me already!” said Marco smirking at Jason, Jason blinked at his lover and smiled shyly before he started working in Marco’s clothes.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Zoro and Jane were enjoying xbox way too much to notice Marco’s absence but…

 

“Wow! You are so good at it! I am enjoying this again…It’s been a while! I usually don’t break a sweat to win!” said Jane punching Zoro on shoulder playfully,

 

“C’mon! That’s my line Je!” teased Zoro,

 

“Yeah?” asked Jane narrowing her eyes on him as she smirked,

 

“Let’s go again then!” chided Jane gesturing him to start playing but he took away her device from her hand and pulled her close by grabbing her hands, she was yanked to him, he pushed her on floor, her back against the furry carpet and Zoro towering above her within fraction of second,

 

“Hey!” protested Jane,

 

“Don’t hey me!” said Zoro lacing their fingers together as he put her hands above her head and lowered himself on her to take his face a little closer to hers, as he balanced his weight on his elbows,

 

“Damn you were fast! So, you learning to get faster, just to be able to straddle me one day!” whispered Jane blushing a little,

  
“I did straddle you just now!”

 

“Oh! I let you do it Tiger!” said Jane awkwardly as she blushed more when he nosed into her hair, he pulled out from her soft golden locks and spoke,

 

“Yeah? Why is that? You like me doing that to you?” smirked Zoro at her blush,

 

“May be I do, maybe I don’t!” chided Jane seductively as she dropped her eyelids halfway through and smiled a little, her face was flushed and lip was curled against the upper teeth as she gently chewed on her bottom lip. Zoro could hardly control himself from catching her lips but he recalled her panic attack and stopped himself from ravishing her mouth,

 

“You passed out on me and we even haven’t yet decided how exactly you are going to be punished for that!” whispered Zoro as he gently touched her jaw line with his nose, breathing on her skin, Jane blushed even more at the sudden closeness but did not pull out from him this time,

 

“Really.... if that’s how you want to play it Zoro! What you want me to do Zo?” whispered Jane back,

 

“That was easy!” snorted Zoro,

 

“No! Zoro, do tell me. I owe you one, not only I passed out on you but you had to take care of me the whole night and I was a handful on top of that, so..” Zoro did not let her complete as he spoke to scold her,

  
“You done messing up with the mood Je!!” scolded Zoro,

  
“Sorry! So, what do I do to make it right?” asked Jane again, but sincerely this time, Zoro left one of her hand and cupped her face with hand,

  
“If you are serious then listen. Jane, I don’t want you push away all this, I want a fair chance at your heart! So, let me in, share yourself with me little by little, I don’t want to rush into anything but I want to know that I tried my level best, my one hundred percent before I fail, if I fail, which I desperately don’t want to!” said Zoro in deep soothing voice,

  
“I don’t know what to say!” said Jane overwhelmed by his words, his love towards her,

  
“Just say yes!” whispered Zoro kissing her forehead,

  
“I don’t know Zoro, why you are ready to do that for me in the first place, I am not worthy of being with you!” whispered Jane almost yelling at him,

  
“That again?” exclaimed Zoro and furrowed his brows deeper in scowl,

  
“Zoro! What happened last night and what you had to go through was just the tip of the iceberg! You barely scratched the surface Zoro, I don’t want to ruin your life, you are very nice person.” Jane said panicking,

  
“I, myself, have thousands of reason to say that I am in fact not worthy of being with you! But I can’t keep away from you and as I told you before, I have come too far, I can’t go back now! Just let us forget all that and handle everything together from now on?”

  
Jane nodded weakly and Zoro took her in embrace and then turned on his back to bring Jane up on him, now her frame resting on top of himself.

  
“Man, wasn’t Marco with us in here?” asked Zoro in amused voice,

  
“He was but he said he would go and grab a bite for us all the left for kitchen! I guess he met Jason on the way!”

  
“You think they got their shit together?” asked Zoro skeptically,

  
“I sure hope so Zoro!” said Jane in tired voice, something in her mind tensed up, she could feel some weird heaviness in her heart like something was not right somewhere,

  
Zoro felt her stir up suddenly, she unknowingly had gripped his t-shirt in her fist, Zoro noticed her edginess and asked,

  
“You alright?” was Zoro’s worried question,

  
“Zoro, I don’t know what exactly to tell you but I feel weird suddenly!”

  
“Weird how?” asked the green haired swordsman worriedly,

  
“I feel like…………feels like something is off, maybe……maybe Shanks needs me!” said Jane suddenly shooting up in sitting position,

  
“What? how do yo..?” asked Zoro confused and totally amazed,

  
“I don’t know Zoro I need to call him! I will be back Zoro” said Jane and got up, she nodded at Zoro who was getting up and ran away to her room to get her cellphone back.

 

**_Away from Rosolt Islands………..in Grand line……._ **

  
Shanks could see Mihawk had something on his mind, he was little different now a days, he would not come at Shanks’ for dinner anymore, Mihawk was making more than necessary trips away from grand line and he was little reluctant to talk, he was close yet distant, just like he was before he got him to confess.

  
Shanks was determined to confront his lover about it as he walked to Mihawk apartment, he did not knock or yelled and simply made his way in, he found Mihawk seated on his chair, his head thrown back, his eyes closed and his browed pulled into a scowl. Shanks walked to the older man as silently as he could but Mihawk opened his golden eye and spotted him none the less, expression on Mihawk’s face did not change by one bit, but his lips twitched downwards as he found red head curling his fingers in his raven hair,

 

“Shanks, I am about to leave for the conference with government officials, if it can wait we would discuss the matter at your hand some other time.” Said Mihawk in deep voice,

  
“I have just one matter at my hand and it’s you!” said Shanks as he lift his leg and sat on golden eyed man’s lap, straddling him. Mihawk opened his eyes and looked at the Red head in the eye, Shanks gave him a cheeky smile and put his hands around Mihawk.

  
“What you doing? I don’t have time for this now!” Mihawk said closing his eye in anger the Red head could not understand was all about for,

  
“No, you don’t, maybe you can quickly tell me what is up with you? Is it because I did not let John go with Jane and let Jason go instead or it’s because that Zoro kid made move on our daughter?” asked Shanks playfully as he slid his tip of tongue on Mihawk’s lips. Mihawk pulled back, his head hit the back of the chair making him grunt,

  
“Jane is my sister not our daughter; yes, I would always prefer John over Jason and no, I cannot tell you what is up with me, not quickly at all, now get up!” spat Mihawk, Shanks’ demeanor changed as his shoulder’s dropped down, he looked at highly pissed of Mihawk and got worried,

  
“Mihawk, you don’t have any urgent meeting! And tell me what the hell is wrong! Why on earth do I feel that you are acting strange only when we are alone together?” demanded Shanks,

  
Mihawk pushed the Red head back and made him stand on his own feet as Mihawk stood up,

  
“May be you should ask that to yourself!” snarled Mihawk walking away from confused Shanks,

  
“Excuse me?” asked Shanks confused and angered,

  
“Oh! You should ask to that freak then, what’s his name again, ah, Benn it is!” spitted Mihawk out,

  
“What are you implying?” demanded Shanks,

  
“It’s simple actually, I saw you two the other day at his office. I told you once, if you are with me, you are with me, if you are with him be with him but you can’t have him while you are with me! So that’s that, it’s up to you to decide, tell him to bug off, fire him and don’t see him again and make him go away while in my presence then we can talk.”

  
“And you took a whole week just to speak this out loud?” spat Shanks trying to contain his anger.

  
“I wanted you to realize this on your own! You may be an emperor and you may have fierce reputation but you are bound to me, you are answerable to me! You have to admit that!” spoke Mihawk narrowing his eyes on Shanks.

  
Shanks looked into Mihawk’s golden eyes, enraged, he waited for a moment for Mihawk to say more of he wanted to, Shanks then put his hands in pocket of his pants and left the room wordlessly without turning back as he left his lover alone in the room and then the whole apartment.

  
\----------

When Shanks made it back to his office he thought for a moment and then walked out to see his best friend, Benn. Shanks was greeted by a cocky smile on tired face of the very man he was accused of cheating on Mihawk with, Benn Beckman,

  
“What happened to you? You look like you murdered somebody or something!” asked Benn when he looked at Shanks face missing his usual smile and his cheeky attitude,

  
“I did!” was his bored reply

  
Ben put away work at his hands and got up as he put his hands in his pockets as he looked at Shanks looking for something in the shelf in Benn’s office,  
“C’mon! Why you even try?” asked Benn amused,

  
“Try what?” spat Shanks,

  
“All these years, have you ever been able to lie to me?” asked Benn trying to change Shanks’ mood,

  
Shanks sighed and moved so as to look into another cupboard,

  
“it’s Nothing! Up for a drink Benn?” asked Shanks looking for a bottle he put away for special occasion,

  
“Sure! It’s always fun to drink with you, also I don’t get to do that often these days!” mocked Benn smirking with his cigar in mouth,

  
“Where the hell is that bottle!” exclaimed Shanks, Benn raised eyebrow at his cussing,

  
“You meant drink In here? Come on, we will go somewhere nice!” said Benn walking towards Shanks,

  
“No, let’s go to my place, maybe I will find something nice to drink, maybe I can make somebody cook for us!” said Shanks dropping his shoulders as he could not find the sake bottle,

  
Benn straightened and stretched his hand a little, he was taller than Shanks as his reach was obviously farther,

  
“If you were looking for this, I have it right here! There you go!” said Benn taking out bottle and handing it over to Shanks,

  
“Yes, this is what exactly I was looking for!” said Shanks a little smiling at the bottle he had hidden in Benn’s office for special occasions.

  
“When was last time you went out of this building Shanks?” asked Benn in deep low voice sounding so serious that made Shanks look up to him,

  
“When I went to see off Jane and I met Luffy and Ace!”

  
“You need a little fresh air buddy! Let’s go out today! Just like old times, you, me, Yassap, Roo, Moneky! I don’t like what have you done to yourself Shanks, you are perfect you don’t need to change for him!” said Benn bitterly,

  
“I am the same Benn, I am upset because I miss my baby girl, and that’s it!” said Shanks in soft voice,

  
“Oh! There is more than that on your mind than your baby girl and I can see it in your eyes! I just don’t get what you saw in that Bastard!” said Benn gritting his teeth.

  
“Enough Benn!” Shanks said raising his voice a little,

  
“Ok! But we are going out, probably having dinner together, I don’t care what your plans are, cancel them.” said taller man and took Shanks by hand with him as they left Benn’s office.

  
Mihawk saw them like that and got pissed of even more, he had followed Shanks secretly to see what he does and there was no limit to his anger now. He wanted nothing more than to go to them, take Shanks’ hand away from Benn’s and cut Benn in half for trying to take away the man he loved, but he decided to let Shanks make his own call and choose between Benn and Mihawk once and for all.  
\----------

Shanks saw Jane’s number popping up the screen of his phone,

“See! That kid sensed it that far away! Your uneasiness! You cheer up a little, it does not suit you, Mopping like this!”

“Shut up! And don’t say that Kid, I told you million times!” yelled Shanks before he picked up phone,

  
“Shanks!” was the yell from phone as Benn yanked phone and put up the speaker,

  
“Jane?” asked Shanks glaring at Benn,

  
“Shanks? Whassup? You okay, right?” asked Jane a little troubled,

  
“Yes baby, I am fine! Who is dumb enough to piss me off!” asked Shanks with biggest smile he could pull on his face,

  
“I know one or two persons who are! Anyways you with brother?” asked Jane, Benn scrunched his nose and puffed out some smoke as he took a sharp turn,

  
“Um, no! I am out!” said Shanks simply.

  
“You are? You are out? Wow! That’s um……….good! Hey Shanks, is everything really alright?” asked Jane again.

  
“Why are you asking like that sweetheart! Everything is just fine! What is exactly that it that is bothering you Jane?” asked Shanks with tiredness in his voice,

  
“I don’t know, I just felt like I should call you!” shrugged Jane,

  
“Well, I am happy to hear your voice baby! How are the things there now?” asked Shanks,

  
“Now? What you mean now?” asked Jane,

  
“You caught that hun? I asked Jason to keep an eye on you, John is better suited for that I guess!” chided Shanks and then snorted.

  
“Dad, You sound ill! Do I need to call Benn to check up on you?” scolded Jane, Benn smirked at her voice,

  
“Right now Benn is with me dear! And I told you nothing is out of place! You enjoy your vacation Jane, don’t worry about here! I will handle it till you come to help me again, I promise!”

  
“I miss you!” said Jane quickly,

  
“I know, I do miss you too!” was Shanks’ reply.

  
“Bye now. gotta go!”

  
“Yeah! Take care!” said Shanks and she hanged up.

  
“That kid is best thing that could have happened to our crew!” said Benn,

  
Shanks just hummed,

  
“I was sure you were going to adopt her, how the hell HE got ..”

  
“We are not talking about that Benn!”

  
“Right! You are the boss!” said Ben and they went silent again.

\-----------

 


	13. The Start of the 'life with you!'

The Grand line felt in good spirits as always, busy and crowded as usual, lively and happening as ever, Jane had taken liking to the city, it felt homely, never she wanted to return to her hometown, never she thought of going back to the place. It was quite unbelievable that it had been a month and half already, so much time had already passed after that horrible shootout and deadly explosion at her mansion in Rosolt island, it felt as if it was just yesterday, the memories were fresh in her mind and Jane just had to deal with it. But Jane was happy to return to her city, to Shanks, to her home, her office, to the Galley la tower, finally at home, when they all returned to Grand line from the Rosolt island and from all things that happened there.

She stood in the elevator taking her down to her office. Jane stood with her back to the door, looking outside, watching her city through glass panels of the elevator she took in the view of the city she had come to love very much. The elevator dinged giving indication that she had reached the destination, door opened and she walked into the 18th floor of Hawkeye tower, she had been spending her time working in for last five years. She wore a gray suit with white shirt and gray tie with blue diagonal stripes on it, there were signs of recovered injuries on her body, her head still had a small Band-Aid. Her left hand held a newspaper and right hand she had her coffee she had been seeping.

She walked gracefully towards her office as usual, her head in the newspaper, enjoying her coffee and morning cheery atmosphere, she wanted her normal life back as early as possible after all the terrible things that had happened in the Rosolt lands she wanted nothing more than her normal lifestyle and her own people. Sudden cheers and claps made her shot her head up. Every single one of her team member and all the staff on the floor stood up in their places, looking at her, smiling sweetly, some cheering and all clapping, every pair of eyes giving her warmth and praise.

“Let me guess, you all know about the Rosolt island incident, Goddamn it Iber!!” said Jane in frustration,

“C’mon, capt’n! Don’t be like that!”

“Yeah! we were waiting for you, tell us how exciting was that!”

“It was awesome! You are best Capt’n!”

There were many praises and congratulations and all people were happy to see her recovered.

She gave them angry face but they whistled, cheered her up and smiled at her,

“Enough with this! Get your asses back to work!” Scolded Jane,

There were whines and mock sad reactions from the people,

“What’s with the pathetic groans!!” yelled Jane,

She raised her eyebrow at them and some of them pointed to a guy, she saw John had some guy with trolley on which a huge cake was placed and they were moving towards her,

“John?” scolded Jane,

“Welcome back captain! People have been waiting for you!!” said John, Jason’s twin brother, came to her and handed her the knife,

“John, my birthday was last month!” chided Jane, she knew all of them had waited for their captain to return, Law had been handling and leading her unit since last month and half that she had to spend in the hospital,

“Come on, the candles first!” yelled Mike from his place near his table,

“What are you Mike, 12?” Jane said snorting at him,

“C’mon captain, make your wish!” said Vivi happily as she got closer to Jane,

“You guys are going to pay for this! In fact, your payment for this day is just vanished and added to my account, damned brats!” said Jane as she put her coffee on the table and handed over the newspaper to John,

“That means you are going to take us to dinner!” exclaimed somebody,

“Yeah! We even bought you gifts!” yelled another guy,

“Morons!” sighed Jane,

“Here, I am not going to do this candles thingy……….dude I am even older now! Shit! Okay here, I am gonna cut this..” said Jane cutting the cake and she closed her eyes in frustration as they started to sing, Vivi came to her and smiled sweetly, Jane shook her head as she chuckled at her friend,

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear captain, Happy birthday to you!!” people sing-songed as she cut a triangular piece out of the cake.

“Come on guys stop it already!” Jane yelled but her voice was not heard as they kept singing, John handed her over a spoon, she took a small piece and Vivi was honored with first bite, Vivi immediately returned the favor, wishing Jane a long life and giving her piece of cake,

“Okay! It tastes good. You know what, choose any place in the grand line tonight, drinks are on me!” said Jane as she finished the bite of cake in her mouth that Vivi had made her eat,

“You sure captain? We are about 40 people!” exclaimed somebody from corner.

“41 to be exact!” exclaimed another girl,

“Well, 44 from now on!” said Shanks from behind all the crowd and they all looked at their commander in chief and all the cheers, whispers, murmurs, yelling and movements seized.

Silence spread on whole floor as that voice was heard. There were people were standing behind him, it was Zoro and some guy and a girl standing near Zoro, Jane did not know about. She gave amused glance at them, Ben Beckman was also present who nodded back at her as she nodded at him and so did the Lucky Roo.

“Shanks, Ben, Lucky!” Jane said acknowledging them and giving a curt nod to all of them, as she put her hands in her pockets, she smiled at the tensed look on face of her people. Shanks personally visiting the that area of the floor where they were meant the bad news for them, he only visited when he wanted to evaluate or beat the sense out of anybody or for his meetings with Jane or some special case scenarios where inspection from higher authorities were required, otherwise he only was found in his office or Ben’s. They all knew he treated her as his own daughter, they just did not want anything bad happening today. They feared him and they were terrified of Ben too.

“So, I am here for good news this time. People your captain has been decided to be awarded with medal of bravery yet again for her outstanding performance and her act of bravery at Rosolt island shootout. So I am here to announce that she would be the head of all the tactical units as soon as she chooses her replacement, new captain of the 18th EU unit.”

There were cheers and claps again with many whispers and some loud ‘congratulations’ voices, when Shanks nodded silence spread again,

“The lists for the raise and promotions would be available on your systems before lunch” said Roo and nodded at Jane to take over, 

“Okay folks, enough slacking off for today, back to work!” said Jane breaking a pin drop silence and everybody moved and got into their places except for John.

“John, scoot!” said Jane quickly glancing back at him over her shoulder,

He went away and made the cafeteria a guy with cake on the trolley walk away too.

Shanks, Ben and Roo made their way to Jane,

“Shanks, you could have called me you know, you like to see color draining from their faces, seeing all of you in here at a time! Spare my boys, will you? Plus I did not want them to know what happened in the Rosolt island.” said Jane,

“Well, we had to tell them why their captain was in the hospital for a month and half! We did not want to lie.  Anyways, the video of cam feed was in the server, Iber has it, so did Iceberg and he said it would be motivational for other agents and I believe he is right. Come, we need to talk!” said Shanks and took Jane away from others as he put his palm on small of her back,

\---------

Zoro and other two people along with Ben and Lucky went to a conference room. Ben and Lucky were talking about something and Zoro was getting excited about his first day in Hawkeye Security systems with Jane as his captain. It had taken them a month to complete all the procedures with Hawkeye system before he got to enter the premises, just like Jane mentioned he would. Shanks was talking to Jane in the balcony that was attached to the conference room they all were seated, Zoro was keenly looking at her face for her reactions to whatever Shanks was saying, Shanks had his back at him, but he could see Jane’s face as he saw through the glass wall, she looked upset about something. She finally nodded at him and sighed sadly, Shanks put his arm over her shoulders and made her walk back inside, she looked very disappointed at something.

“Kid, I have new gun and some other devices for you to try out! Visit me later?” asked Ben bending down and speaking in her ear. She smiled tiredly and nodded,

“Thanks Ben, I need some good training, when we start?” asked Jane,

“I know kiddo but you are not recovered yet, not until Law says you are ready.” Said Ben smirking,

“Very well! If you are not going to train me, fine, I will fine who can!” said Jane in sharp tone, narrowing her eyes on him,

“Okay brat, 4:30 in morning, tomorrow!” said Ben as he smiled at her,

“That’s more like it!” said Jane smirking at him.

Shanks talked with Jane and Ben after that and they both bid their goodbyes to Jane, Jane nodded and shook their hands before they left the conference room, only Lucky and the other people sat in room now, they were standing far away for others to listen to them but Zoro as clever he was, had been lip reading all the time. She finally turned to look at all of them and smiled, they all smiled back and they nodded,

“Okay Jane, these are your new recruits. I mean, what I have recommended for your unit. You may choose to defer my choice, there are five other options for you to select. But you have to do it within two days, first being today!” Roo said handing her over all the files and a data card. She went through files and she sat opposite of Lucky, in same line three seats away from Zoro. She was reading for 10 minutes and Lucky did something on his tablet,

“Okay Roo, I am sorry but I want to meet them all. After Lunch I will come and see you. Till then I would like to catch up with Law and John.” Said Jane in calm voice,

“I just checked up with Vivi, Law and Usopp are out on a field for a case, I would suggest you come right now and get it over with. Sooner you set up your team the better!” said Lucky, Jane closed her eyes for a second and sighed before she nodded,

“Okay, let’s do it!” said Jane, they all stood up and went to elevator, Jane was still looking at files in her hand, John stood outside the door of conference room, he had been following Jane, helping her as Jason did, they all entered the elevator,

“Wait, don’t we have a choice here?” said the blond girl,

“Miss Rose, yes you do have, depending in your score and your performance. I will explain how this works, you have filled in the paperwork with choices of your own right but your score was not enough, only top two candidates get to choose the team they want to work with and you are third” said Lucky.

“So are these the top two then?” asked Rose pointing towards Zoro and other brunette,

“No, Mr. Roronoa is first and is Mr. Harris is fourth, the second ranked candidate chose Kid’s unit!” said Lucky which made Jane raise her eyebrow,

“So, Captain Jane cannot chose that guy?” asked girl again,

“Oh! She can! Kid does not know yet and I bet he does not care as long as Cpatain Jane and the guy, both are okay with it! No more questions please, go to your seats as the way you were seated before we went to 18th floor” said Lucky as door opened, 

\--------

Jane went and met every candidate, she chose two guys named Wiper and Kamakiri, wiper was somewhat different, he was the one who everybody said was a maniac but he was experienced, three years of service in world government agency, he had left as he thought they did not know what the justice was. She chose another girl named Laky over the one Roo had chosen for her while she never put Zoro to any of the testes she was making all others go through, the both that had been chosen previously for Jane’s unit got unhappy as they could not make it to the top most unit in Hawkeye systems.

“Jane, He is a Lunatic. He does not look like he is got this! Why did you choose him? And you are only getting three not four! So, do you not want Roronoa in your unit? He is best in all these” whispered Roo to Jane while she signed necessary paperwork.

“Zoro Roronoa is in my unit since the day he applied for the job, Roo I have been keeping an eye on him and I am getting him as well. I want all four of them and that’s that! If Mihawk has problem with that then he can take it up with me” said Jane and she gave the files back to him, Roo snorted at her cocky attitude, she smirked at him and gestured her new teammates to follow her,

Roo and Jane left the office, Roo was walking her out, all the candidates selected by Jane started following them,

“You like to piss him off don’t you!” said Roo smirking,

“Damn right I do, life would be miserable without him being annoying dick at all the time. Plus its only way to make him react to anything at all, piss him off!” mocked Jane,

“Good! That’s why I like you!” said Roo smirking,

“Thanks man, See ya soon Roo!” Jane said shaking hand with him, he nodded before he spoke,

“Yeah! Good luck kid and welcome back!” said Roo and bid her good bye.

\-------------

Jane and all her new recruits made their way to their final destination, nobody talked anything. They simply followed her and John. Zoro was very confused since he saw John in there and he actually thought why Jane was addressing Jason by name John but he kept mum for all the time.

They went to 18th floor again, Jane was hurriedly approached by Vivi, Vivi had literally ran to her and had hugged her firmly, Jane had to take a step back to balance off shorter blue haired girl’s sudden weight on her,

“Vivi? What’s wrong?” asked Jane worried about her friend,

“Jane, they modified your office, just don’t freak out okay! John and I tried to tell them but they did not listen. We tried  to arrange it the way it was but it’s bigger now so…. Sorry Jane!” said Vivi almost panicking,

“The hell?” exclaimed Jane in anger,

‘Why everybody here calling Jason by another name! Why Jane seems so upset! Why the hell Vivi suddenly got so panicked about, she was smiling and cheering Jane up just few minutes back!’ thought Zoro looking at her.

“I know you are upset! Just take it easy okay! I am so sorry Jane but sir Mihawk!” Vivi said still in hug. She pulled out and Jane sighed for umpteenth time that day.

“Law and Usopp are on their way back.” Vivi informed,

“Good! Finally something productive and sensible, I need to catch up!” said Jane.

“Captain, here are the documents, I need a sign on these!” said Mike as he handed over the files to John and presented a paper on which he needed her sigh. She did give him sign and turned back on her heels to look at all four new team members.

“Okay guys, you all know me but you are yet to know this place, John would help you with that. Your orientation! We will meet after an hour, then we would talk about your work and how we are going to start.” Jane said. They gave a short salute with an exclaim of “yes captain”.

“Good!” Said Jane and walked away with her hand on small of Vivi’s back as she walked towards her own new and modified office.

But she stopped and turned back to look at Zoro, he was looking right back at her, she gave him a smile and mouthed ‘welcome’ to him, he nodded mouthing ‘thanks’ to her.

\---------

 

It was setback after setback, Jane did not know what to do. She wasn’t even in state of mind to handle all of this at a time, she felt like someone had put her in pit and water was pouring in from all sides and escape was impossible, it was like her legs were tied to a weight that pulled her down in darkness.

Jane was disappointed at many things. Her office had gotten modified without her consent, she loved her old office very much she was attached to that place; it had become her second home. Now the place was bigger so felt emptier, it felt unlike her office, it was more similar to Mihawk’s own office, more high tech than previous but she used to like it the way it was.

Shanks had told her that Law was going to leave her team, she was very upset about that, she always had Law with her no matter what, now Law had decided to take up promosion leaving Jane’s Unit. Ever since she came back from Rosolt island, all injured and fighting for her own life, Shanks had been taking care of her, she was living with Shanks in his place, she had not been to her own condo since then, the day they returned from Rosolt island she had been spending her time medic room at Shanks’, she had recovered in 3 weeks enough to live on her own, but he insisted her to stay with him for some more days.

She was pissed off that she wasted her time like that, in the hospital and recovering. She needed to train to get her flame back, her injuries were severe and she was not training for weeks, she had Law look after her team, they had lost three cases to GLPD SWAT and that was setback to her.

Everything was just piling up, creating a sad effect on her, her beloved old office gone, Jason was wreck as Mihawk had given him hell after Jane went through second terrible panic attack which exposed the fact that he failed to report the first one.

Jason and Law had left her, Sanji had told her that he loved Zoro and wanted a fair chance at him, he wanted to fight for him, shanks told her that she would be leaving her own unit, her brother had modified her office without her informing her, she had found out that Shanks and Mihawk were distant and avoiding each other since she returned, all these things were making her feel defeated like everything was falling apart. 

She had promised Sanji that she won’t let Zoro commit to her or rather she would not accept Zoro’s proposal until Sanji figures out his thing with Zoro. She knew that Mihawk was upset with her as she again had shown a weakness when she got those panic attacks, and second one actually had incapacitated her for nearly an hour and he had been angry over the video he had got of Zoro kissing her on New Years’ eve. She had been dealing with his silent wrath since she had recovered.

\---------

She stood in the balcony, looking somewhere beyond horizon, her blue eyes sad, winds ruffling her soft blond strands, her hair had grown longer now, they were coming to her shoulders but she still looked like a boy, boy with longer hair if not for her boobs. Her tie hung lose, her hands were tucked in pockets of her pants, her was breathing deep and even, her lips turned downwards making a frown on her pretty face, brows furrowed giving away her tension….

There was sound of flash and camera, Jane turned to look at the person who took her picture to find none other than Zoro smiling back at her,

“Don’t worry, it’s your own cellphone. I got mine submitted at the entrance only!” said Zoro casually.

“Hey!” said Jane acknowledging him and turning her head to where she was looking at before she was interrupted,

“Hey!” replied Zoro, he stared at her beautiful features for some minutes but spoke again,

“How are you?” asked Zoro making his way over to her,

“Okay, I guess!” said Jane softly,

“I am asked to meet Mihawk tomorrow first thing in the morning! You think he is going to kill me over that video and the kiss!” asked Zoro in amused tone,

“He just might. Try a good suit and decent tie not skinny one like this. Don’t speak until you are spoken to.” Jane’s voice was low but not weak,

“What you mean a good suit, I have got this one and a tux I had bought to impress you. Is this one not good?” asked Zoro to change her mood a bit. Jane pulled something from her pocket, it was card holder, looked for something and pulled out a card and gave it to him,

“Visit in evening before 8, spend some money!” said Jane offering him a card,

“Don’t tell me that please!” Zoro said in teasing tone but took the card anyway,

“Zoro why are you here, I was meditating!” said Jane closing her eyes and furrowing her brows,

“No, you were not. You were moping” said Zoro as matter of fact. Jane sighed defeated.

“So captain, we are done for the day. What you want to do next! Wanna accompany me to your suit guy to get me a better suit? Jane we are the police, not the lawyers or the wall street people, I don’t need 10,000 berries suit for God’s sake!” mocked Zoro in amused voice,

“Oh! Trust me you need it! Now you go, do what you have to and I am going back to work.” Jane said trying to sound annoyed,

“Aye Aye captain. Which case we are working on, Dolly’s or that guy with the mysterious wall climbing stealer? I have found some finger print matches, I need you to look at and..”

“Zoro stop, I am working alone and you are going home!” scolded Jane,

“If you are working so am I. You know better than anybody I don’t have anything to do better than that! And if you think that I have, then you too have the same. So either we are going to see Luffy and the others together or we are working; together! Your choice!” Zoro said stubbornly, handing her over her cellphone. Jane sighed let him follow her to her office………..

\--------------------------------------------------

Since she collapsed on the beach of Rosolt island, Law and Jane had not been close like the way they were before, there was some awkwardness between them, Zoro and Shanks had felt tension between them but chose to let them handle this by themselves. Since the day Jane resumed her position as captain, since the day she was informed that Law was about to leave her unit she had not asked Law why he wanted to leave all of a sudden. That thing had made Law feel guilty but he had his own reason to do such a thing which he could not share with Jane.

When Jane had her second panic attack on Rosolt Island, Law had discovered that he was not the one who knew Jane in and out as he thought he had, he thought he was the closest person to her after Shanks and Mihawk but finding out the fact that he was not the person Jane trusted with everything he thought she should have; he got hurt. There still were some huge secretes between them, he wanted to keep this new secret from Jane this time, he was reluctant to face her or to talk to her without good reason. Jane has also noticed some problem in Shanks’ relationship with Mihawk, since she had recovered; she had not seen Mihawk personally. He was mostly out of the Grand-line; he just called Jane once as far as she could remember. She had not seen Shanks making calls to his lover or Mihawk talking to Shanks either.

Everything was scattering and falling apart so helplessly, she did not know what to do. Only thing that kept her mind functioning and made her go on was love Shanks and Zoro have been offering to her. Their presence around her made her stand those things that would have otherwise shattered her into pieces.

She was working sincerely again putting back her unit together, she got her spirit back thanks to training she did with Ben and Shanks. Zoro and her team members had been part of training to some extent, Zoro had made her mind stabilize little by little as days passed, they worked closely together, his skills as a cop were beyond impressive and he as a person was more than Jane could have asked for as a friend. Shanks had noted that he was excellent and self-motivating at work and he took care of Jane in more than one ways. Nearly after a month from the day Jane resumed work, Mihawk returned but things kept getting worse and worse.

\--------------

**_Approximately 3 weeks after Luffy, Jane and others returned to Grand line……_ **

**_At Zoro’s apartment ……_ **

There were boxes everywhere, kitchen was nearly empty, main hall was packed with boxes of various sizes, there were boxes on couch. It was finally that time when he had to move to Galley-la towers, Jane had now recovered fully, though she had not yet resumed her work. She had told Zoro that she would pick him up and help him moving, Zoro packed the last box and sat on bed, he gave a tired sigh, his stomach made a sound indicating that he was hungry. He thought of calling Jane and asking her to come for lunch. His phone lay on the shelf, he was dead tired and he did not even feel like getting up and grabbing phone, he wanted that device to walk to him.

The doorbell ranged, he thought it was Jane he had called her and left a massage to come to his place.

Zoro made his legs travel to the door, picking up his cellphone as he walked out of his room and opened the door to find Sanji at his door step, Sanji did not have cigarette in his mouth, that was surprising enough that Zoro did not notice soft expressions on Cook’s face. Sanji looked at Zoro, Zoro appeared to be thinking something, his eyes were on Sanji but it was as if he was not looking at him, not seeing at all, or may be seeing right through him, Sanji’s hands were holding some packets. 

“Cook?” Zoro finally spoke,

“Zoro, can I come in?” use of his name, sentence without any cussing had made Zoro raise his eyebrow at Sanji, but he welcomed the Cook none the less.

“You hungry? I brought food?” said Sanji,

“Left overs?" asked Zoro. Sanjiu shook his head saying 'no'.

"Anyways, I have all the kitchen things packed, so no plates or spoons.” Said Zoro as he sat on Couch and threw his head back, he was really tired.

“We don’t need them, here, try some.” Said Sanji, as he took out some packets,

There was _sushi_ , _oni-giri_ , _Takoyaki_ and many traditional cuisine items that were famous from place where Zoro belonged to. Looking at neatly packed steamy rice balls, Zoro’s mouth watered. He looked at cook for once, Sanji was looking back at him but looked away when his gaze met Zoro’s questioning gaze. This was fifth time; Sanji had brought him food which was all Zoro’s favorite,

“Ahem….I will get some water” Sanji said after clearing his throat awkwardly and ran to kitchen with bottle in his hand, Zoro could no longer control himself, he took a rice ball and took a bite of it and gave hum of satisfaction as he chewed on delicious rice ball. Sanji was watching him secretly; he smiled when Zoro gave approval of taste to his rice balls. Zoro ate that rice ball and stopped abruptly when he was picking up another one, as if he had recalled something important, he took his phone out and called Jane, her phone ranged for long time and went to voice mail,

“Je? Umm..hey! Where are you? You still coming over right? I am done packing and am waiting for ya! Je, call back as soon as you get this okay!” Zoro left the massage and Sanji’s smile faded at the mention of her name, at the memory of Zoro kissing Jane. Moreover Zoro was moving to some place he did not tell anybody about but Jane seemed to know about it. Sanji knew that Zoro was inclined to be with her more than to be with him. Sanji knew that he had crossed the line when he had approached Jane with weird most request qnybody could ever had done to any of friends and when Sanji had told her that he loved Zoro, when he asked her to wait for Sanji to make an effort to make Zoro think about Sanji differently, to make Zoro forgive him, but he did not know what else to do other than that.

Sanji went to where Zoro sat and put a bottle of water on table. Zoro cleared his throat,

“You made these?” asked Zoro just to speak something, to get his mind off Sanji’s sudden different behavior, to make the awkwardness go away, he knew that that Sanji had cooked that for him, he obviously knew Sanji’s food when he tasted it,

“Yeah!” Sanji replied shyly, as this was awkward for Zoro it was similarly difficult for Sanji, not being annoying was really difficult, he was always angry and pissed off at Zoro but now Sanji knew why he did that to poor Zoro, why he kept ignoring Zoro but he could not totally hate him, he tried to be away and distant but it always ended up in fight with him.

Sanji had heartbreak when he was younger, his one and only male lover had left him for no reason and he never wanted to be weak again, he was not surrendering again, not for men anyways! So he decided to be a player instead for getting played, he always knew Zoro liked him but Zoro would not approach him or confess that he actually had feelings for the cook, Zoro would want total devotion and Sanji was not ready for that kind of thing. But he was ready now, he had understood he was in fact aching for Zoro and he was in fact afraid that same thing will happen which happened year’s back. 

“It tastes Awesome!” Zoro said taking another one of the rice balls.

“Thanks!” said Sanji with slight flushed face as he picked up one too and they sat and ate in silence.

After that second rice ball, Zoro stopped eating, cleaned his hands with tissue paper and slumped on couch, he already was very tired and now felt sleepy as his stomach was somewhat filled though just a little. Sanji felt disappointed as Zoro ate only two rice-balls, he knew Zoro’s appetite and he knew Zoro had been waiting for Jane to come but Zoro respected his food do tasted it and admired it. Sanji wordlessly put everything back in the bags again, he stood to leave but instead went behind Zoro and started massaging his shoulders.

“Hey! Don’t!” said Zoro pulling away.

“Relax, you will feel good. You look tired!” Sanji said softly,

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows to protest the Cook further but his cellphone beeped, Zoro looked at his cell phone and tilted the screen to an angle that Sanji would not be able to see,

 _‘Sry tiger, was stuck wid sm stupid wrk at home. Shanks! U knw how he gets! I will b thr in a  flash. I c u r missing me alrdy! :P’_ was text from Jane.

Zoro smirked at the text and pocketed his phone giving a sigh.

Sanji made him relax on his back against the couch and kept working on Zoro’s taut muscles, after some time a spontaneous hum left Zoro’s mouth. Sanji smiled at his reaction, let his hand travel from shoulders to biceps, he was feeling Zoro’s muscles, he felt heat in his cheeks, Sanji was blushing but he did not notice a scowl on Zoro’s face, his hand unknowingly scooted to Zoro’s chest when they got suddenly caught by larger hands and Zoro pulled Sanji's hands off his torso.

“Sanji? What the hell are you doing? I really don’t get you sometimes.” Zoro growled as he pushed away Sanji’s hands and stood up from his position from couch. He turned back to face Sanji but he gave Zoro a wary look, he hurriedly came running to stand in front of Zoro, Sanji looked panicked.

“Zoro, I am sorry for that day! I should not have said that. I was wrong about you! I have been so wrong all these years. I want to make it up to you.” said Sanji sincerely, Zoro made ‘what the hell face!’ at Cook, Zoro as skeptical as he was from the very start, he knew Sanji was all about women, he was doubting Sanji’s intentions and that was quite natural in a sense the way Sanji always treated Zoro like a trash.

“What happened all of sudden? Is it because Porche ditched you or now that I have found my happiness you are dead set on ruining it too?” spat Zoro, his face with expression of wild anger.

Sanji made apologetic face, that was something new, when Zoro showed anger Cook had more anger to offer him, this time his expressions were soft,

“It is not like that Zoro, or maybe it is somewhat like that, I mean I did realize it on New Year’s Eve. I don’t want to lie to you anymore. You are right, when I saw you kiss Jane chan, I just could not stand it.” Said Sanji taking Zoro’s hands in his own, Zoro jerked on his hands and took away his own hands from cook’s grip,

“You are just an impossible bastard Sanji! I told you I love her and that is not going to change no matter what you do now! You want her, try to win her over on your own, don’t try to kick me out of her life by playing your dirty games!” Zoro said with angry tone, Sanji made a wary face, Sanji’s eyes were soft and pleading,

“No, you don’t get it Zoro. Why are you so suspicious of me? There is no game, I am not playing any game, I don’t want to be with her or any other woman for that matter nor I want to win her. I don’t want anybody. I am not dating anybody. Don’t you see Zoro, I don’t want her, I want you! I think I love you Zoro!” said Sanji with such a voice that made Zoro feel that Sanji was speaking truth for once. Zoro stood there dumb folded, rooted to the spot. He did not believe what he had just heard. He looked at Sanji as if he had just declared that he was not going to cook anymore!

“Zoro, if you want I am ready to say this in front of all our friends! I just want you to understand that I have changed, I am changed man now and I have understood that you are not I thought you were. I want another chance, just…” Sanji’s voice was interrupted by loud ringing of doorbell. Zoro looked at the door, he got out of that shock Sanji had given him as he thought of Jane standing right outside door. He looked at Sanji and narrowed his eyes, he walked to the door but Sanji ran to him, stood in his path.

“Zoro, just think about it for a second, you told me that you like me remember? You used to kiss me, how that felt Zoro. I want to feel it again, please believe me! I do love you now.” Sanji said getting closer to Zoro, door-bell ranged again.

Zoro gently pushed the cook away taking both his shoulders in his hands and looked into Cook’s visible eye and spoke,

“Sanji, even if you are telling the truth and even if you love me now, I don't and I can't! It’s too late for that!” said Zoro sincerely but a little harshly and hurried to the door.

He opened door to find Jane standing there typing something in her cellphone, he felt overwhelmed at the thought of Sanji trying to ruin what he had with Jane, Zoro felt Sanji would ruin his relationship with Jane. She looked up from screen of phone and smiled at him pocketing her cellphone,

“Ready tiger?” said Jane with her cheeky grin.

He sighed, shook his head at the sudden emotional drama cook had stirred his heart with,

"What happened to you?" asked Jane looking at him making a funny innocent face,

"You!" said Zoro and suddenly pulled her in a hug.

Hug seemed desperate and hungry. Jane furrowed her brows at Zoro’s extra tight grip around form, it was so sudden and hungry, it was very unlike Zoro, she stood on a step lower than one he was standing on, he felt an urge to lift her off her feet and he did,

“Oi, you are squashing me in here!” yelled Jane in mock hurt voice as her feet left ground and she was held to his chest firmly in his arms.

“Yup that’s the plan!” Zoro said snorting. She laughed at his statement and tried to pull out but no use, his grip got tighter and she was held already mid-air,

“Zoro!! seriously!! I am still recovering from injuries and you are being really scary! What happened all of a sudden eh?” said Jane sounding little amused,

“I missed you!” whispered Zoro smirking at the tone of her voice,

“Missed me? We have been texting all day! I just did not answer your last call, it was just an half hour back! Dude, when they say you don’t know how to flirt I don’t believe them!” Jane said in amused voice but now leaning into his touch and not pushing him away.

“You should!” mocked Zoro with his characteristic grin as he felt her relax in his arms,

“Would you let me take my hands out at least? I can hug you better that way you know.” said Jane in relaxed voice.

“What if you try to run the moment I loosen my grip?” said Zoro raising an eyebrow, his smirk never going away.

“What? Run? Who? From you? Why? Are you trying to rape me now?” teased Jane,

“What? Are you inventing me to rape you? Are you suggesting that you want to get raped by me?” chided Zoro putting her down,

She sighed audibly,

“Okay smartass, let us put that rape on hold for now. What you want to eat? Meat? Fish? Burger? Pizza? I am starving! C’mon” said Jane and started dragging him out of house,

“Whoa! Whoa! Wait Schumacher, I need to lock the door!” Zoro said,

Listening them talking like he never existed, that Zoro had completely forgotten that he was still inside house, Sanji’s anger boiled, he went to window and decided to jump out breaking some part of it.

“Cook? Oi Cook? I need to go. You coming with us?” yelled Zoro, the Sanji stopped the kick he was about to throw at the window and came out of the house.

“Hey!” said Sanji greeting Jane with awkward smile, Zoro was locking the door as he stole a suspicious glance at Cook,

“Hi Sanji! Good that you are here Mr. foodie! What you suggest? Where should we go to eat?” asked Jane casually as she returned his smile,

But before Sanji could speak anything, Zoro came to stand between them and spoke quickly,

“He would say _Baratie_. But I want to go to Richie’s, come!” said Zoro as he put his arm around her waist, Sanji looked away from him, he knew Zoro did that to make him feel jealous but that did not last long. Jane immediately took off his arm, pulled herself out of his arm and she ran to the car before he could get her in his grip again. She knew seeing that would hurt Sanji and she did not want to make Sanji feel bad.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane and Zoro were working on a murder case, he sat in her chair and he was finding the clues, going over the stuff all over again as he sat at her desk, working on her laptop. Jane was seated at the sofa, as she wrote something on a note-pad.

“Where the hell is the gun? We can’t do anything till we find the weapon and those are definitely bullet wounds.” Exclaimed Jane a little frustrated,

“Definitely not at the crime scene, I searched the whole place myself. Jane why do you think that boy killed his own parents?” asked Zoro sincerely,

Jane yawned as she stretched her body, throwing her arms in air. Looking at her, Zoro gave a yawn too.

“Don’t do that, you are distracting me!” said Zoro as he eyed Jane with intense eyes. He had to fight back an urge to run his hands on her body the way she gave that tired yawn and stretched herself, it was simply inviting.

“Yes, that is the very point Zoro darling!!" said Jane snorting, Zoro gave her a questioning face and amused smile,

"When we see somebody yawn, our body responds to that, mostly we yawn too or our posture changes at least a little bit. That is normal reaction, only when you are tensed or ultra-focused or maybe on some medication, then you don’t.” Zoro put away the thoughts of kissing Jane senseless and focused on what she had said, he thought for a moment and it came back to him,

“So, he did not yawn when we were playing good cop bad cop in there. That is why you think he killed them?” Zoro asked skeptically,

“Zoro, his hands are steady in this extremely tense situation, his parents were killed for God’s sake, right in their home. Tell me why place is not messed up, the killer sure knew house way to much well too be believable, that teen is very cautious when I ask anything bad or suspicious about his parents, he denies of them being bad persons but he is okay to indicate that he does hate his parents, he does not want us to go anywhere else, he wants to outsmart us before he gets caught, it’s always the same!” Jane said looking at all the photos of the evidences the team took when at the scene of crime,

“He wants to get caught?” Zoro asked with disbelief in his voice,

“Of course! All artists are greedy for applause! They would do anything for appreciation. This bastard hated his parents and killed them for fun. And he wants us to appreciate how intelligently he did it. But unless we find the damned gun, we don’t have anything to put him in jail or even link him with the case. We have to let him go in one hour at the max.” Jane said closing her eyes, as she threw back her head on sofa,

“Damned Sociopath!”  exclaimed Zoro, he got new view, he scanned through the data again, thinking in the way Jane was thinking,

“Exactly!” said Jane,

After some silent moments and after some things Zoro went through in Jane’s laptop,

“Come here, Look at this!” Zoro said, Jane put down photo on table she had been holding in her hand, table had all various photos of crime scene on it as Jane was trying to find the missing link in them. She stood up, went over to Zoro and stood behind him, put hand on table leaning over his left shoulder.

“A small hand gun. Very small! and that plastic, very easy to get rid of. Except, of course, the carbon steel spring. There are calculated shots on all three bodies but their cat, it’s an over kill! Why burn it? Not all people had this kind of arrangements in house, plus I don’t think it’s completely burnt!” asked Zoro. She thought for a split second and looked at him impressed, they shared a knowing look, she gave a quick curt nod to him and then Jane called forensics,

“Jane here. It’s about the case no. J-18-127, transfer to fifth terminal would ya?” said Jane as she stood up, she moved a little to sit on table near the laptop, her mobile phone ranged showing Shanks number, she cut the call and waited for somebody at other end to respond,

“…”

“Yeah, I need to know if we found any plastic or rather the burned plastic in the burned cat or maybe in its stomach!” Jane asked and put her cell phone down, Zoro took it connected to Laptop, did something on it Jane did not see. Zoro did not know anything about these things the day he had joined but now he had become more than proficient in using all the devices they had,

“..”

“Well, I want a thorough analysis. Any metal parts, plastic, anything that can relate it to a gun! Don’t you put that cat in furnace just yet! You getting my English?”

“..”

“Sweet! I want it on my screen within next hour!” said Jane hanged up the phone,

“Good work Corporal!” said Jane as she decided to go back to the sofa where she had been seated,

“But that was burnt, we cannot have any evidence to capture him, he practically destroyed the evidence! What are you going to do with carbon steel spring! No finger prints and nothing of that sorts” said Zoro,

“Yeah! But he does not know that yet! He just put the cat in there, he thought we wouldn’t look in there, the place never existed for others, but you found it out after digging, I mean they don’t have any records if it being existed in the first place, they never had a permission to build anything like that there. He called the police way too early, try to match the time line, so that he could say that he was out and he called the moment he found out about it before he could completely burn the cat, that is where he made a mistake. I just knew something was not making sense, something was not right and I knew it was staring me in face, but now everything falling in place, We are going to use that against him!” said Jane,

She was about to jump down when her desk phone started ringing without any number displaying on it. She narrowed her eyes on phone as she knew who was calling but she did not know why,

She picked up the call pressing a black button and speaker on the desk phone came to life,

“Working after hours I see!” came the icy and deep voice, it was Mihawk but Zoro narrowed his eyes on phone surprised by his tone,

‘Man, he talks like that to Jane too? He has got huge stick up his ass, bastard!’ thought Zoro,

“I am. Is there anything you want from me?” Jane said in similar cold and impassive voice, scrunching her nose at his voice for a second, that made Zoro widen his eyes a little.

‘Wow! She talks like him! Hell, he deserves that!’ thought Zoro smirking a little,

She put a finger on her lips gesturing Zoro not to talk anything. He nodded, Jane pushed a button on her laptop and door of her office got locked.

“It’s good. You better make up for what you have missed. How did you like your new office?” came Mihawk’s deep cold voice. She narrowed her eyes on the phone.

“It’s okay Okay!” said Jane sounding uninterested.

“Okay? We spent two million bellies on it.” It was not a question but more a statement.

“Well, I didn’t ask you too. I liked my old office just fine!” spat Jane coldly.

“I regret making this call already. Anyways, sign the papers today and free Trafalgar Law from there!” ordered Mihawk,

“What are you going to do with Law? Why you made him leave. He is always been with me, since the very start, you know he knows it better. I need him. Why are you doing this to me?” Jane asked gritting her teeth.

“I did not. We asked him about the promotion as we do every year, he agreed this year. It’s his decision and his alone. Jane, he is way more capable than being your lieutenant, you have no right to anchor him there. He is going to handle world government affairs for me now on. As you have wasted many days, you have to give up on O’hara case that you have been pursuing on your own and get over with choosing a replacement for you in the unit 18. You will pass the case off to any worthy agent along with all the research you have done till date.” ordered Mihawk in sharp tone, his every word was cold and rude.

Jane was shocked at the news that Law had asked to leave her and Shanks had been keeping mum about it all these days. She did not reply for long time, there was some sound of papers rustling before Mihawk spoke again,

“Sign the papers Jane. There is one more matter I have to talk about before you call Shanks and cry about me being an ass. As Roo had told you before, you only were allowed to select three new members, I am taking away one of those today, you know about my choice so better prepare for that too.” Jane’s anger went beyond limits now. She got off the table, turned around and slammed her hands on table on both sides of the device placed on table, Zoro looked at her compassionately but did not say anything,

“How dare you? You won’t touch my boys!” said Jane gritting her teeth.

“Yes, I will. Roronoa Zoro had shown his potential in such a short time, I am picking him up for the stealth units. I have a position vacant, plus he needs a training of different kind!” said Mihawk in impassive voice.

Zoro’s eyes went wide, he was not supposed to hear all that, the administrative talk and family matters were not Zoro’s to listen or to meddle in.

“You took away my office, you are going to take away my people, my unit, I so dearly put my soul into building up for five years. You took Jason away from me though it was not his fault what happened to me. Now Law is leaving. Something is going wrong between you and Shanks, you did not talk to me for two months and now that you are, you are taking Zoro away? What the hell is wrong with you brother?” yelled Jane finally losing her temper. She had lost her cool and was reacting like any normal person would.

“Stop whining like a child. You sound weak. You have to learn to let go!” Mihawk deadpanned, Jane made ‘What the hell’ face before she closed her eyes and gave a sigh, she leaned over the table, resting her weight on table with her hands flat on its wooden surface,

“Well said Mr. Dracule Mihawk. You have some new things to learn too. I am not signing any papers for any goddamned Law, till I get the conformation that all the people I chose are in my unit with duly sighed documents from all the directors of this firm including you. I want a raise if you want me to give up on O’hara case and I will not hand over my research or any documents for O’hara case till you reinstate Jason back.” Said Jane in same tone Mihawk had been using, cold and sharp.

What Jane did not know that Mihawk was waiting for Jane to say something like this, he wanted her to protest, she did not know that her answer had brought slight smirk on his face.  

“I will have to sleep on that!” said Mihawk suppressing is smirk,

“Take your sweet time Mr. director, I happily can wait till tomorrow to sign Law’s papers!” spat Jane nonchalantly.

“Okay, you get what you want. I want those papers right now.” said Mihawk in irritated voice.

“Raise, 12 percent!” said Jane in curt voice,

“5” replied Mihawk,

“11” Jane said stubbornly.

“7” said Mihawk smirking. He knew he had brought out Jane’s stubborn side,

“11” Jane repeated,

“10” said Mihawk and Jane smirked at her brother’s reply,

“Deal! I want papers with your signature on it, I will give Law’s papers, signed! To the man that would deliver the papers for my new recruits to me.” said Jane and hanged up the phone, stood up straight and closed her eyes as she hold her head in her hand.

“Shit! That was amazing!” praised Zoro.

“Quiet lieutenant Zoro Roronoa! You did not listen anything. Am I clear?” scolded Jane raising an eyebrow.

“Yes Captain! Could you switch off that ‘Mihawk-mode’ now?” mocked Zoro,

Jane sighed and massaged he temple.

“He can be very difficult to deal with! But sometimes I lose my cool!” said Jane in irritated voice,

“At least I got to know where you learned to speak in that sexy stone cold tone.” Zoro said as he moved the chair a bit. He pulled Jane on his lap.

“Hey!” yelled Jane as she was suddenly pulled to Zoro, she tried to balance her weight and push against him but he found a grip on her waist, she sighed in defeat receiving his a smirk,

“You are getting distracted Mr. Acting lieutenant, we need to work!” said Jane taking his arm away from her waist as she smirked back, he took her hands in his own as he brought her closer.

“Oh! You have no idea how much you keep distracting me at all times!” said Zoro as he nosed into her hair, she knew that he liked doing that, he did it often these days,

“Really now? That is why you brain is competing Sherlock’s!” chided Jane moving away from his touch,

He hissed mockingly, as if he felt hurt as she mentioned Sherlock again, earning snort from her,

Then he kissed the skin of back of her neck. She pulled away from kiss and try to pull away altogether from him but she could not get off of him as he had strong grip over her waist.

Quickly Zoro put his arm under her chin over her sternum as leverage and yanked her close, her back plastering her to his chest. He brushed her blond strands away from her neck as he nosed in those soft silky golden locks again, kissed back of neck slowly and sensually which made her take a sharp breath,

Zoro spoke against her skin and started showering the pale skin of neck with intense kisses,

“If that Sherlock would have been a real person, I might have had to compete against him for real for you, ne? I mean …..”  he planted many slow kisses, starting on back of her neck moving towards the front...

“……..you keep mentioning him….. [he kissed and he groaned at back of his throat]….Mmm…….and making me jealous…… [groaned again] …Mnn….” He kissed base of her neck and moved to skin behind her ear planting kisses as he went,

“………I might as well……defeat him …for real…..so you finally start paying attention to me………” she was shivering at the touch of his lips on her sensitive skin while she shuddered in his embrace still trying to resist the warm touches that her lover was passionately showering her with. 

“Let go Zoro!”  Whispered Jane with close eyes and tugging on his arm under her chin, her weak and reluctant resistance was making her even more temping for him.

“I can’t, you are too delicious!” Zoro whispered his lips touching the lobe of her ear, she moaned as licked her earlobe before he nibbled on the soft mass. The way she tried to get away from him, her ass was rubbing against his groin, his limp member was coming to life, he needed her to stop moving her feet or he was sure that it would be difficult to have deal with hardness down there later and her taste, her touch, the way she reacted to his touches was not helping the situation.

“Z……Zoro! Please let go!” whispered Jane pleading him to let go but she was helplessly leaning into his every touch melting in his embrace.

“Stop moving your legs Jane, please stop! You keep doing that then I really won’t be able to let go!” came his husky voice,

She stopped her actions and finally note that Zoro was half hard down there. She could feel his member poking her bottom. Heat spread on her cheeks at the realization, she swallowed thickly as she felt Zoro smirking against her skin and then it hit her, she was wet between thighs too. She took a sharp breath as she felt his tongue caressing her earlobe again,

“Zoro?” Jane asked in shaky voice,

“Mnn……We had a deal when we kissed remember? You will let me love you!” Zoro whispered and then he traced lines of her ear with his tongue, her back arched beautifully,

“But, Ummmm!” moaned Jane deliciously as he slid the tongue down further to wet her ear slightly.

He licked her skin below her ear and she gave a sweet moan,

“Z..Zoro!”

Her moan earned reciprocated guttural groan from Zoro that was first time she had experienced something like this. Lucci never did anything like this to her, he preferred teeth on her skin instead of putting his tongue to work. He pulled out and drank the sight of Jane panting unevenly, eyes half lidded, plum pink lips taking air in and out to even her breathing, her hair tickling his face,

“Your hair has gotten longer!” Zoro said as he nosed into soft blond hair and breath on the skin behind the ear, then kissed on it, made her tilt her head giving him access to the side of her neck he had been so lovingly working on, he then awarded her with kiss her jaw line near ear, licking it seductively,

“Zoro!” Jane tried to yell, but her voice was too weak,

“Hmm, I will let go but promise me we are going out for dinner!” Zoro said against skin of her neck.

“Are you asking me out on … Ahhh!”

Jane’s sentence was cut off as whispery moan left her mouth when Zoro closed his lips on base if her neck and sucked on her soft pale skin, her eyes fluttered closed, her right hand traveled to his head. She did not feel his teeth on her skin like she had expected, but his lips had taken the pale skin inside the hot mouth, she felt his tongue caressing her skin, she felt like getting drunk over his sensual way of loving her, like Zoro was drinking her, her protest was long since gone as her hand now held his short hair in her fingers and second hand griped his hand tightly.

It was overwhelming her mind, taking over her senses, it was exactly as intimate as his kiss was; slow, graceful, passionate and sensual. She threw her head back over his shoulder granting him access of all of her neck as she arched her back. He pressed her into his chest some more and gave a growl of satisfaction as she responded his love. He left the spot now red and marked as his, and moved up to create another mark, he kissed and started to suck on her neck again.

Her table phone ringed loudly to jerk them into present, she cracked opened her eyes and Zoro stopped what he was doing. They were brought back to reality by Shanks’ call. Her awkwardness was gone now, she flumped on him as if her body was tired and weak, he bent forward and pressed the button to pick up the call for Jane, Jane cleared her throat,

“Ahem……Shanks! I am sorry, I forgot to call back!” said Jane in uneasy voice, Zoro adjusted her position a little so that she could rest on him while she sat on his lap, she put her arm around his neck and other on his chest, her head rested on his shoulder.

“No problem honey! It’s 8:30, come home, we are having dinner.” Said Shanks sofly.

“You heard what did he say to me?” asked Jane in weak and tired voice, Zoro had his right hand around her, supporting her back and other hand caressed her face with his hand as she talked, she looked at him and smiled sadly,

“Who said what? What are you saying?” Shanks asked in confused voice. Jane closed her eyes and sighed, Zoro brushed some blond strands away from her face.

“Oh! I thought you were there when Brother called me. Anyways I cut a deal with him.” said Jane,

“That’s good, he was going overboard with that anyways! Come home baby, I am missing you already. Hey! Umm…Iber says Zoro is still with you! You guys……um……. busy? Make him come over if you want.” Jane smiled shyly, Zoro gave her amused glance,

“Yeah! We were working on a case but we are done for the day. We were just…” she said looking away from Zoro,

“Dad, I actually thought that I would go and see Luffy today?” asked Jane in low voice. Zoro tapped her chin with his finger, she opened her eyes to look at him, he shook his head saying ‘no’.

‘Go home first’ mouthed Zoro,

“Oh! Okay then, enjoy!” came Shanks’ voice.

“Dad! Dad! Wait, I…I will go after the dinner! I am coming home!” said Jane quickly.

“You sure hon?” shanks asked in uneasy voice.

“Yeah! I will be there in ten!” Jane said and hanged up.

She moved a little and hugged Zoro firmly placing hands around his neck.

“Thanks Zoro!” Jane said,

"No problem Je!"

She got a kiss on her forehead as she pulled out, she got off his lap and he stood up and hold her hand to pull he close again, he bent forward a little to whisper in her ear,

“You go and have your dinner, call me when you are done, I will wait here as usual. One advice, try to hide that beautiful red mark on your neck” Zoro said as he kissed where there was mark on Jane’s neck. Jane blushed at the fact that she was marked by Zoro, she felt fuzzy but happy.

“M..Mark? But I did not feel any teeth! How can there be a mark?” wondered Jane. 

“But there is! Off you go now, let me work!” said Zoro smirking at her laptop and sat in her chair again. She shook her head smiling and walked away quietly putting her hands in pocket of her pants.

 


	14. Blemish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything will fall into pieces now, Jane's second panic attack, the explosion and everything.
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> I don't want to ruin the suspense, hope you like the chapter!

Zoro sat in Jane’s apartment, she had asked him to come over for the beer and the snacks as she knew Zoro wanted to see the football match, she arranged so that they would enjoy his favorite game along with his favorite food, the meat and beer in her condo while they watch the football on her insanely big ass television set. Zoro could not have asked for any better, he was excited and kind of happy that she did something like that for him, he felt special, he felt that Jane wanted to make him feel special. They were seated on couch, near each other, chatting and having beer while they watch the game but after half hour, she had got an important call from her friends in the Red army and she had to take it.

Jane was talking with some guy named Mark whom Zoro had never heard of, Jane and Mark were busy in some military related issues and Jane was looking into maps and doing something on her laptop while she talked to the man.

Zoro was eyeing Jane intently as she went by her activities but beeping of his cell phone snapped him out, he looked at the screen of his phone and saw the text alerts. So many of them, Sanji had been texting him a lot recently. Zoro sighed at another beep he heard his phone making and then switched his cell phone off. He looked at the love of his life again, Jane was drawing something with pencil on the map sprawled out on the table. Jane then looked at Zoro and gestured him to come closer, he walked over to her and helped her with some stuff she asked him to do to help her a bit,

“Thanks dude! It is gonna take a while but I will be back as soon as i am done with this!” Said Jane making an apologetic face,

“No problem Captain, take your time.” Said Zoro sincerely,

“Zoro, could you disconnect Iber from my laptop for a while? Just remove the hardlines form there, that red door you see, there, this is the key, you have to insert it in a hexagonal yellow socket and pull the handle down and you will need the code, it’s same the one you use to enter my condo and use my key card to access the hatch.” Said Jane, said Jane handing him over her key card and the small black pin like structure which Zoro thought was the key to cut the hard lines,

“Aye Aye Captain!” mocked Zoro and took the key from her hand and turned to walk away,

“Hey! Who the fuck you are giving away the details like that and is that guy up to it?” was an exclaim form laptop, Jane’s eyebrow twitched and Zoro’s eyebrow shot up,

“I know what the fuck I am doing Mark, suck it up! If you did it any better then you would not have felt the fucking need to call me in the first place, smart ass” scolded Jane angrily, Zoro did not talk back but smiled at Jane and started walking away,

“Yah! Yeah! Whatever! Hurry the fuck up! My people are fucking dying here! Smart ass!” yelled Mark looking away from the camera,

Jane pressed the button on laptop, changed the angle of the laptop screen and grabbed Zoro by his hand, he turned back to look at her, she came closer and hugged him out of the blue.

“Je?” asked Zoro taking her in his arms and lifting her off her feet to crush her on to himself but raising an eyebrow to her sudden action,

“Yeah! I just feel bad that I have to do this right now, I invited you to come over and now I am busy and I am working you to boredom ..” Jane was interrupted by Zoro,

“Wait! Wait! Enough already! I am going to encash every minute you waste in there, you are going to spend two minutes extra with me for every minute you talk to your army guy! You understand that!” said Zoro stubbornly but with a smirk on his face,

“Deal!” said Jane pulling out and smiling back,

Zoro grabbed her arm, yanked her closer to capture her lips but she was faster on her feet and escaped his assault of love and winked him after she gestured him good bye.

He shook his head and walked away to a compartment in her apartment where he was supposed to go to do the work given to him.

\------------------

When Zoro returned, he found more than three laptops were open and Jane was still working with something, two more laptops were put on the couch they had been seating on before the call that Jane had to answer.

He picked up one of the laptop he recognized as the one which Jane had been using back at the Rosolt Islands, he knew the password so he took it and opened it. He found the photos from the trip to Rosolt lands, to her manor, he could not help but to think back at the time they spend in Rosolt islands together, he knew he would never forget the days he spend there in Rosolt lands, in her Manor.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Approximately more than A Month and half back …on Rosolt islands……………_ **

 

Sanji was behaving very differently since the night of 31st, almost everybody had noticed by now, he kept himself engrossed in gathering the information about the food and spices variety they had on that island, he spent most of his time in the Ocean blue’s kitchen and talking with Ace and Marco. His usual flirting at girls, talking with girls with hearts in his eyes, his wooing, everything had reduced to almost zero, which was shock to all of them, chopper even checked him once for any illness he might have had caught, Sanji did try to approach Zoro but got avoided almost all the times.

\------

“Jane chan, I need to talk to you, can you spare a moment?” asked Sanji very sincerely, Zoro gave him a death glare but sanji avoided looking at him for now,

“Yes Sanji why not!” said Jane and got up from her seat near Luffy and Law,

“Yay! My turn!” exclaimed luffy, and all of the others sighed in frustration.

Jane and Ace broke into laughter, the thing was she had been playing chess with Law and Luffy was just giving them hell by asking meaning less questions ,now luffy had decided to compete law in it,

“I am going to win, just you see tra guy!” exclaimed Luffy happily,

“Yes, that is going to be world’s most terriffic news of the century!” said Ussop, and laughing increased even more,

“Why?” whined luffy but stubbornly sat at Jane’s place as Jane stood up.

“Enjoy Law!” mocked Jane and law gave her death glare, Jane gestured Sanji to follow her and they walked away out of the Manor and from all of them so as to talk in private.

Nami rubbed her palms together and hurried to stand in the middle of the room, she gestured everybody to listen up and spoke excitedly,

“Okay, now listen up folks, we are going to surprise her at the midnight, 12 on the dot, you understand?” Nami spoke up.

“What are you planning?” asked Marco,

“Well, Sanji already has preparations of the cake, we will go to our rooms a bit early today evening, make some excuse. When she will be inside her room we sneak out and decorate the place and then we have to figure out how to lead her to the cake.” Said Nami,

“That sounds good.” Marco said,

“Yup, theme is of ‘valentine’, so dress in red people!” said Ace sounding happy.

“This vacation is the most amazing time I had in this year, I mean last year and it was because of her, I mean this place is so amazing! We owe her a nice celebration guys!” suggested Bonny.

“Yeah! That’s true. We had Jason help us with gifts. Her choices and her likes and dislikes are bit odd. But we have spent all the money you have given us to buy all these items listed in here. Pick up one each and you may gift it to her.” said Tashigi handing over the list to all of them,

“We need to make sure that she stays in her room while we decorate! If she walks in on us then it would all be waste! I mean..” Usopp was speaking but got interrupted by Nami,

“Don’t worry, I have plan for that too. Plan is ‘Zoro!’” exclaimed Nami giving sheepish smile to Zoro.

“Me? What you want me to do now witch?” Zoro asked suddenly panicking.

“Well, you are the one who will keep her busy while we are at work, I mean you will enjoy it anyway.” Teased Perona stressing the word busy in cheesy sense and many snorts and giggles were heard which made Zoro blush a bit,

“What you mean by busy?” asked Zoro with flushed face,

“Oh! Do we need to tell you everything Zoro, use your imagination?” Ace chided and winked at him, all of them broke into laughter as Zoro’s face went beet red,

“We also need some plan to lead her to the cake at 12 on the dot!” said Marco raising his eyebrow,

“I can help with that!” said Jason in weak voice,

“No it would be suspicious! You can’t even look in her eye while speaking let alone lie to her!” said Nami, Jason dropped his shoulder and looked at Marco with tired eyes,

“Jaosn, Zoro, Ace, Chopper, Marguarite are out of question! We need either too smart guy or too idiot! Nope I think we need smartest guy! It’s Jane we are talking about!” exclaimed Nami,

Marco smirked at Jason’s expressive face and gestured him to come over to where he sat, Jason shook his head a little but Marco narrowed his eyes on him slightly and Jason’s feet started moving towards Marco,

“I will handle it!” said Marco, Jason looked at him with wary eyes,

“Mee! Mee! I will do that!” Luffy suddenly jumped up,

“Luffy, 12 on the dot! You can do that?” Nami asked,

“Yes, don’t worry!” said Luffy with confident look on his face.

“Ma’am, the roses you have ordered have arrived!” said Jason as he checked his device while making his way to Marco,

“Good! Jason I wish I had you as my manager!” Nami said to him and ran to inspect the roses. Marco gestured him to come over fast, he went over to Marco, he was suddenly pulled on to sit on his lap. There were giggles, Jason blushed but could not get up as Marco had good grip over him,

“You are my valentine today so you would want to wear what I have bought for you!” whispered Marco in Jason’s ear, Jason nodded and somehow got off him and walked away blushing madly.

“What you did to him, eh? How did you finally get him to open up eh?” asked Law in mocking tone,

“He has his charm Law!” chided Ace as winked at Law.

“You people are sick!” said Chopper,

“He is such a cutie!” said Perona making Jason blush even more.

“So, these all gift are to be wrapped in the afternoon, where are all these items?” asked Law looking at the list,

“Oh! In my room, Marguerite and chopper have packed half of them already!” said Boa,

“Okay that is all for the evening but what we do now? I am bored!” Luffy asked,

“Let’s go on beach!” Usopp said excited,

“Not bad idea, we haven’t been on beach since two days!” said Marco eyeing Jason.

“I have another plan!” said Nami sounding evil.

“Nami, you sound scary!” said Chopper scooting away from her.

\-----------------------

Sanji and Jane were outside the Manor, in garden they went over to a fountain and Jane stopped turning on her heels to face Sanji, he smiled awkwardly and stopped at a distance of two three feet from her,

“What is Sanji? You seem different lately! You okay? Can I do something about it!” Jane asked in worried voice,

“Jane chan, I actually don’t know how to say this but I have to tell you anyways and there is no better way to say this” Sanji said with wary eye and sad face,

“Sanji, don’t worry, I can take anything you have to say, trust me!” assured Jane in firm voice,

“Jane chan, I want to apologize, I lied to you!” was Sanji’s reply and he stopped looking at Jane with worried face,

“Go on!” said Jane wanting to know more, he eyebrows now furrowed in worry,

“When you left us to talk and solve the misunderstanding between us, between me and Zoro, you wanted us to clear the doubts and get it over with. You came to me asking about Zoro and if anything bad had happened. I lied to you Jane chan, something bad did happen that day and it was because me, I have been so terribly blind and so selfish. I am sorry but I messed up.” Said Sanji with sad face and low voice,

“What you mean? What happened Sanji, tell me, I will help you fix it!” said Jane sincerely.

“Well, you cannot. I said very bad things to him. I was being so mean, I literally called him a looser!  I said that he was not worthy of being with someone, with anyone. I said….I accused him of doing wrong to you…I said that he is gross and he must not expect anybody to love him back.” Sanji said lowering his gaze and feeling embarrassed. Jane was astonished at his honest sounding confession, she did not believe Sanji said such thing to Zoro,

“Goddamned it! Sanji! No doubt he was so pissed off that day when I found him seated alone on the beach! For two hours he was in self-loathing phase, Sanji that is really mean thing to say to anybody! How could you do that to him?” Jane said narrowing her eyes on Sanji but she did not sound judging or enraged but sounded sad and disappointed,

“I know I…I …Jane chan….I made a mistake…a terrible mistake, I was…..I was jeal….” Stopped Sanji abruptly,

“You were what Sanji?” Sanji shook his head, looking reluctant to speak,

“Let me help Sanji, just tell me what is it, if I need to fix it I need to know where it has been broken in the first place, c’mon buddy, speak up!!” Said Jane putting her hand on his shoulder,

“I was jealous of you! I figured it out when……….when he kissed you! I just am so horrible person Jane chan!” said Sanji nearly in tears, Jane closed her eyes in frustration; she gave a tired sigh,

“You were jealous? Jealous of me! Then why didn’t you hurt me? Why you had to hurt him?” said Jane in frustration, feeling bad that Zoro had to go through that from person who was his first love,

“Jane chan?” was Sanji’s exclaim,

“Do jealous people say such mean things to the one they want to be with? No! They try to get attention by behaving nicely and possessively, Sanji. Instead of trying to get his attention you hurt him? I don’t understand?” Jane asked in angry voice but she had her tone perfectly modulated.

“I know, I messed up, I thought I was jealous of him, but it was the other way round. I didn’t know what to do, he won’t even give me a chance to apologize. I think I like him too, I really want just a chance at him. Am I too late Jane chan?” Sanji asked with sadness in his eyes. Jane gave a sigh and looked at him with slight smile.

“No, you are not. I will talk him into having a conversation with you again, and don’t mess up this time!” said Jane in sincere voice,

“Thank you Jane chan. Has he ….you know, has he? has he asked you to be h..”  Sanji’s question was interrupted by Jane,

“Sanji, He has confessed that he loves me but he said that it’s okay if I don’t return his feelings. He has not yet asked me to be his girlfriend or something if that is what you want to ask, and he said that was not needed as of now. Sanji, I like him too, I like him as a person, I like him as a friend and don’t ask me what I feel about him because I honestly don’t know right now okay!” Jane added,

“Jane chan you really are a very good person.” Sanji said softly,

"Thanks Sanji, but I am not!" said Jane but some noise make their heads turn, they saw somebody at the door talking with excited Nami and Jason was instructing them to put the box in desired location,

“Roses!” said Sanji.

“Today’s theme?” asked Jane

“Yeah! Valentine!” Sanji said sadly,

“Tonight is nice opportunity; Sanji, tell him how you feel.” Said Jane giving him a nice and sweet smile,

“You think so?” Sanji asked with disbelief. Jane nodded, he could not believe that Jane took it in such a way that he never felt awkward to talk about the man who was in love with her or jealous of her for he liked Zoro too, though he knew Zoro was obsessed with her, he could not help but ask her a favor and she was just giving him away like she was so dammed expendable,

“Yeah! He liked you Sanji, he said so himself! Dress up nicely, you are very good looking as it is and use good, romantic words, be honest with him and be sincere when you say anything to him then see he is all yours!” Jane said in encouraging tone.

“Th....Thank you Jane chan.” Sanji said giving her sad smile.

“I am glad I could help and I am glad that you decided to finally talk to me about it Sanji, please don’t hurt Zoro ever again!” said Jane in clam voice as she looked into his eye as if trying to find out the truth, trying to find out if Sanji was serious when he said that he liked Zoro, she had unreadable face,

“I promise I won’t! I am sorry I had, I really am sorry I hurt him so much! I should be sorry to you as well, I am trying to be in the way……” Sanji knew that he had gone overboard with this when he decided to talk to Jane about this, he knew he was getting in Zoro’s way to gain Jane’s heart,

“It’s nothing like that Sanji! If you love somebody and if there is even 0.01% chance that you can get him back by fighting for him then you should! I wish you luck Sanji, I won't accept his proposal till you figure out your thing with Zoro but hurry, I ain't insulting his feelings and I can't keep him at bay for long!" said Jane firmly,

"I understand" said Sanji nodding,

"I have to go now!” said Jane slightly smiling at him and walked away from him after Sanji nodded at her.

“You are a nice person, Zoro was right when he said that you are different than all the girls he has ever known!” whispered Sanji sadly but instead of going to hall where all people were seated he chose to go to his room and be alone for some time.

\------------------

After they planned Jane’s surprise birthday party, they all went to beach. They were playing in sea water, throwing water balloons at each other, as usual all girls had bikini’s and boys had shorts and t-shirts but Jane had her shorts and rash guard on. Nami had already asked her to wear bikini by gifting one to her that day but Jane’s had politely refused saying ‘she is not that beautiful’.

Luffy, Law, Ace, Marco, Usopp, Jane, Vivi and Chopper were engrossed in the game, Zoro sat on beach drinking his beer with Brook and Kaya as company, Jason was watching game too, Kaya was sitting on beach near Brook and Zoro as she was not feeling well that day, but Nami, Sanji and all other girls were discussing something the others did not know about..

“Nami, you sure she would not mind?” asked Bonny in very low voice,

“Oh! She would not. She is just shy because she thinks her size is small. But we need to take care of her fear!” Nami whispered,

“Fear?” asked Perona raising eyebrow at her,

“Yes! Once she faces it, she would feel all better! It’s for her own good.” said Nami,

“Nami san, is it really for her own good? I mean what if she does want to do it?” said Sanji worriedly,

“Sanji, do you want her to feel scared of showing her curves to the world or you want her help feel good. We would praise her, that thing will go away, you understand that? She has never worn any revealing clothes and she keeps saying that she is ugly. You want her to think like that?” asked Nami in firm voice as she put her hands on her hips,

“No, definitely not!” said Sanji, Perona, all other girls around her in unison,

“C’mon, lets carry out operation free-Jane-from-her-fear!” exclaimed Nami,

“Aye Aye Captain!” said everybody and made their way to Jane and the others,

They started playing the game too, suddenly after some time Jane got surrounded by Bonny, Tashigi, Nami and Boa, Zoro narrowed his eyes on Sanji who was standing few feet behind Nami, as if waiting for something to happen. Zoro noticed they were up to something, he got up and started walking into water over to them,

Jane was fast, she saw that she was trapped between them, she used the weak point, Nami who had no any fighting abilities nor much physical strength , so she pretended to attack Nami and got out of circle but then Perona came out of nowhere and pushed her back to throw her off balance. Jane still tried to avoided her blow when Perona tried to jump on her, Jane moved back into circle, thinking quickly she jumped little, used her leg to jab on Bonny’s knee, she put her hand on her shoulder to high jump out of their trap. But Tashigi was quick too, she caught her other leg but Jane balanced herself on her hand on Tashigi’s shoulder and have it a forceful jerk, Tashigi’s footing got messed up and Tashigi was on her knees. Jane smirked and jumped in water, but she did not know that Marguerite was part of attack team too, marguerite just pretended to get scared and got in Jane’s way and Jane stopped herself abruptly so as not to hurt poor blond girl. 

They all were in deeper waters now, water covering them up to their stomachs, Jane felt somebody grab her feet and people saw Jane vanish under water. Jane never had expected them to do this, pulling pranks were other thing but Jane never would thought they would do it so seriously, Jane never used her hundred percent force and power against her own friends and she got caught in difficult situation. Somebody had grabbed her hands and her rash guard was unzipped before Jane could tell,

“Hey! Don’t!” yelled Jane but next second her hands were released and her rash guard came off, that somebody gave others thumbs up and the rash guard was taken away before Jane could grab it again and everybody scooted away from Jane.

Zoro had made his way to Jane by the time all this happened,

“Yay! Come out Jane darling! Come out! Come out!” were the cheers from girls as they clapped,

“What the hell is going on?” yelled Zoro, he was standing near Nami, trying to figure out where Jane was, it was too much turbulence in water and sand had all got mixed up with water as they were actually fighting there,

“We are doing you a favor Zoro, so suck it up!” Nami exclaimed and winked at him, Zoro looked at Sanji angrily, figuring out that  he was part of whatever Nami had planned, Sanji gave him a wary look before he looked in direction where Jane was supposed to be standing,

After some seconds, Jane emerged out of water, her black sports bra visible, stark contrast against her milky white skin, glittering in day light with water droplets sliding down her slender lean muscular physique, giving out the outline of her perfectly curvy chest, her flat belly, slightly muscled abdomen and arms, long lean slender hands. Like every other curvy girl, Jane’s curves were really mesmerizing. Sanji got a nose bleed seeing her like that, Zoro gritted his teeth at cook’s actions and decided to go and kick his ass but Zoro stopped as he sensed something was off.

They all were confused why was she had her hands protectively covering her abdomen; why she was looking down like she was embarrassed or something, they saw her move as she started walking towards them.

“Wow! Look at you! Darling, you are just as sexy!” said Bonny smirking at Jane and whistled after that,

Jane flinched at the shout and stopped walking and she hugged herself more as if trying to cover her body with her hands, her face completely color drained, her seemingly lifeless form now was covered some more, she started walking again to come nearer them, the water stopped reflecting off her body as she came closer, a cloud now casted a mild shadow on them cutting off all the sunlight that reflected off the glittering sea surface and ……………..

“C’mon Jane, what happened. Don’t be shy now! Look you are just as beaut….”Nami’s words died in her mouth as Jane came closer,

There were gasps and exclamations of ‘Oh My god!’ ‘Holy shit!’ ‘Shit!’ exclaims were heard,

Everybody was horrified, many had hands on their open mouth, faces were frightened and eyes were wide with tension, Jane walked like she was a zombie, no expressions on face, her speed so less than a turtle would surpass her, as if she wanted the water to drag her away into the ocean, somewhere away, somewhere deep into ocean, to bury her in the depths never to return ashore again, as if her feet knew they had to make her go home.............

Angry long painful marks, scarring the white expanse of skin, staining the very existence of her power, questioning her strength, there were those Scars………. angry signs screaming in agony……….

Ugly long and deep scars, on her back making their way to her waist, some on her stomach, some on thighs, some cris-crossing each other as if she had been hit by whip like structure again and again, proofs of her painful memories. Jane's back and abdomen were covered in terrible scars that nobody had stomach to view and comprehend the pain behind them, Zoro's eyes went a little wide before furrowing in worry at her condition, it was a shock to him as well but he was more worried than shocked...

Nami’s eyes watered up, Vivi, Perona and Marguerite just collapsed on their knees crying, Bonny’s hand went to her head, Chopper and Kaya stared sniffling, Luffy’s eyes watered, Usopp was silently crying, Ace gritted his teeth Marco kept him in place who had a frown on his face looking at Jane’s condition, Law narrowed his eyes on his best friend clenching his fists , Tashigi and Sanji who faced her back threw up looking at the way Jane’s curvy body was covered in those painful old marks. There was a tattoo of Red army on her upper arm but that too used to remain hidden under her clothes at all the times.

The scars were little paler than her own skin colour, some were pinkish, some were short, some were awfully long. Jane kept walking, looking at her feet as she walked past them, so as not to meet anybody’s gaze. She finally stopped when she felt somebody standing in her way. She was still looking down, embarrassed, when she stopped still, they noticed how many scars were there, uncountable, even her arms had those marks, the inside of her arms had marks of teeth cutting in flesh. There were two bullet wounds and one new cut that looked like a cut from a sword but excluding the fresh ones, rest of them were definitely marks of abuse.

Her shoulders got held by this person firmly, Jane did not look up to see who was that hold her still. Jane felt miserable, being put on display like that, they all were pitying her, her eyes watered at the thought, she opened her mouth to speak only to give a shudder and draw in a shaky breath.

There was just sound of ocean, silence was painful as ever, but finally Jane spoke, rather whispered,

“I need to ….I have to…I ………I gotta go, I am sorry.” said Jane in horribly sad and weak voice, Nami’s cheeks flooded with warm tears hearing Jane’s weak voice.

Zoro’s eyebrow furrowed further, he was taken back with the broken attitude Jane spoke with, he felt Jane’s pain, as if he was struck by a force that shoved him away from Jane by a kilometer, he thought he could not reach out to Jane though she was standing this closer he felt she was far away from him,

Jane did not look up to see who was standing in her way, she simply changed her route but next second she was covered with somebody’s shirt, she felt somebody threw their arm around her shoulder, walk her towards the mansion. She walked without looking up, without speaking again, without blinking as she knew if she closed eyes, tears would come,

_Jane flinched as she felt a soft hand touch her back, pain was excruciating, blood was dripping form her mouth, her arm was bloody when she took her teeth off her own arm which she had been biting on hard. If she screamed while receiving her punishment, the beating would increase, so the 8 year old kid had found new way to stop screaming from pain, sinking her teeth on her own flesh to keep from screaming._

_Her thin body kept holding up somehow, she wondered why and how her body endured such a pain, how her bones did not break, why won’t he attack her vital parts and kill her once and for all. She wondered why he won’t hurt her face, her head, he heart._

_There was a deep cut this time, an old women cleaned her wound and sewed her skin. Jane only could manage some silent tears before she passed out form pain on the red, bloody floor._

_When she woke up, she felt her body aching all over, screaming in pain, she could feel her stomach empty, asking for food, her vision was blurry and she was trying to figure out what time it was. Jane was put in bed with her laid on her stomach so as to heal wounds on her back. She felt her aching would was open to air, sometimes the cool breeze would sooth it, no fabric covering her back but she still wore some old clothes, one could see her ribs poking her skin from inside, she looked as if she would die of starvation, milky white skin, torn up at many places, her vibrant blue eyes lost their light, their flicker of life, her golden blond hair had lost their shine, she was just a mess, a sack of bones bound together by skin and somehow alive._

_She tried to move her uninjured arm, her hand was shaky so was her breath; it hurt to breath, it hurt to speak, it hurt to think, all she knew was pain…..…just pain……pain to the bone, her eyes closed as they did not listen to her brain anymore, she couldn’t keep her eyelids open, her consciousness slipped away again but she still could feel hunger, last thing she thought was ‘how could she feel pain of hunger over her fresh wounds, she thought she would get used to being hungry but the damned stomach did not listen!’._

_The noise outside made her wake up again, there was plate full of fruits, pieces of bread, delicious smelling meat and glass full of milk on the table near her bed. Her stomach growled from hunger, food was rare, very rare rather. This kind of food was even scarce. She tried to move her uninjured arm to grab the piece of bread, the wound on her back made cringe in pain. Her eyes watered but she wiped them off her face as she rubbed her face against the rough surface of some old worn out sheet on the bed she had been sleeping in, her neck also was in pain. The beating she received before the recent one had her got a wound on her neck that was not yet healed properly._

_After the pain subdued Jane tried to move again to grab the bread, she reached the bread but the shivering of her hand made it fall to the ground, tears made her vision blurry, she moved little trying to get to the age of bed. Then little by little, as little as the pain allowed her to move, she finally reached edge of the bed, she blinked the tears away, her shivering and uneven breathing was now long ripple motions. Hunger was winning over pain. She saw the piece bread on the floor and looked up at the food plate on table, moved her arm to grab some more food but it was out of her reach, she moved her leg a little to jerk herself forward so as to fall out of bed. The impact would hurt, she knew she would open her wound but she was so hungry. She decided to make the fall, mentally braced for the impact and pain that was to come but the sound of door opening snapped her out of her actions._

_\--------------_

_The old woman came in, she fed hungry Jane with some food and gave her some milk, she ate to her hearts content but Jane had urge to throw up, full stomach was rare thing to enjoy, she wondered why was she being fed the well today,_

_‘if I had something worth cutting the flesh, I could have chopped off my left leg to get off that chain, maybe I am not that brave, maybe I am worthless, I could have managed to break the dammed leg and run away anyway but I am too coward to do it! May be after braking a leg, I cannot actually run now can I?’ were the child’s thoughts._

_“Jane, poor child, I will help you run tonight, I will leave the lock open, find your friends in the forest tonight! Go to them, go away from here!” whispered the old lady._

_Jane’s eyes went wide, she thought nobody knew about Ace, Luffy and Sabo but the old lady knew. That means they had found out about her little adventure, when she had ran away from home once,_

_“Runaway from here tonight, I am leaving some money in your pocket! I cannot see your pain anymore! Don’t get caught again, go to the sea shore, don’t tell anybody your name, hide in ships docked at the port, ask someone to help you get on board, do anything but don’t come back, go away from this place you poor soul” whispered the old lady again she put Jane down on her stomach so that wounds on her back would not be touched, she caressed her head for a minute but she gasped suddenly and Jane blinked her tears away as she knew what was to come._

_There were heavy footsteps coming towards the room, both females tensed up, he came barging in,_

_“How is she now?” came a gruff voice,_

_“She is healing. Bleeding has stopped now” said the nanny._

_“Did she eat?” was an arrogant question,_

_“Yes, master!”_

_“Leave us!” said the man and Jane curled up in ball, her eyes watered, she took sharp breath in covering her abdomen with her hands. That is where he used to kick her. Curling up was the position that had made it hurt little less, she could take it on back and hands but not on stomach. The old lady reluctantly left the wounded and frightened child alone with the man who would assault and abuse the child with whips, belts, whatever he found her to beat with._

_After the old lady went away, he came closer to Jane, she recognized the smell, that shitty smell of oil, oil factory which he owned. He menacingly looked at her curled up form, Jane never met his gaze, never after she knew what it meant looking at him, let alone meeting his gaze; she had done that just once, for mere split second and her cheek was slapped mercilessly as she was thrown off her feet, she did no longer need to know how did he look now, but she remembered his smug face just fine._

_“Does it still hurt?” asked man in gruff voice, there was shameless mockery in his voice, he wanted to hear how hurt she was, but if she answered ‘no’ he would try to get his hands on her, if she said ‘yes’ then he would laugh his head off telling he how she was worth getting beaten,_

_“Little” whispered Jane,_

_“Oh! Let me see!” said him mockingly and put his heavy large hand on her back, she gave suppressed pained whimper, tears streaming down her small and already tearstained face, her puffy eyes tired of crying but still produced more tears,_

_“You know why you get hurt you little piece of shit? Because you are worthless! You are mere burden. That bitch told me that you are my child but you know what? You are not my own, I know you are not! You know of your whore of a mother don’t ya! She ran away leaving you here for me to keep feeding that ungrateful mouth of yours! That is why you are worthless, that is why you get punished! Once you get little older may be you could be put to some proper use, useless little bitch!” spat the man as he fisted her blond hair in his hand hard enough to cause a child the pain worth crying their heart out._

_“Yes, my lord, my mother is a whore! I am worthless, I am a burden, beat me till I learn my lesson. Make me bleed for my crimes. I should not have been born!” she just spoke these lines, words which held this meaning, nothing more and nothing less, every time he came in that room Jane was supposed to say this,_

_“Un?” was mocking reply,_

_“I am worthless, Beat me! I am worthless, I am trash, a burden. My mother is whore!”_

_“Better!”_

_“I am worthless, Beat me up. I am worthless! Please just kill me!” cried Jane,_

_She knew by now that if he did not hear what he wanted to, then instead of his belt or whip it would be metal bars or brass knuckles and food would become less and less. He used to visit her when he wanted to hear such things and beat the hell out of her._

_“No! Not yet! I like that you have learned your place but it’s not that time just yet. You are not even healed. Anyways it was more fun when there was some fighting spirit in you, when your eyes used sparkle with anger, you would suppress that scream, making those sweet noises. But now you are no fun. I think those brats were your spirit hun? What were their names?” said the man moving his hands on her wounds,_

_“Ummmmrghhhh!” Jane gave a pained cry clenching her teeth,_

_“Ace wasn’t it?” shouted him and dug his finger in her wound,_

_“Aaaaargh!!” pain was mind numbing, Jane was screaming and crying like helpless lamb clawed and pawed by lion, teasing it’s wounded meal before killing it, writhing in pain Jane tried to get away from the abusing hand, to make him smirk at the beaten up child,_

_“Scream in pain bitch! Who was the other one…. Luffy! Was it? He is your brother now? Ain’t that right you trash?” whispered that man as he opened her wound using his thumb, Jane was continually screaming in pain, Jane trembled as he moved his finger on her wound, she bit her own injured arms for screams to stop, but kept whimpering,_

_“Sabo?? His father gave me hell! You low life, I had to listen to his rambling because of you!” yelled the man as he slapped her arm which was held in her jaw,_

_He slapped her some more, she was shuddering violently in pain, but he continued slapping her hand for some more time, Jane did not scream now but kept trembling in pain. As if her pained whimpers were making him go high he kept making moans watching her crying in pain, he was teasing her wounds with his fingers, she again started crying out of pain, he closed his eyes, there was euphoric smirk on his face._

_After some minutes of this torture, he took his hand off the child’s abused back and licked the blood stained fingers, panting heavily as it of was hard to breath,  he felt himself getting hard in his pants, he quickly stood up and made his way out of her room, slamming the door on wall. Jane’s breathing was heavy due to her crying and sniffling, pain in her back was so much that she thought she was going to die that day, she heard another door open and metallic chains moving._

_Soon she could hear his dirty talk and evil grunts and growls, combined with pained cries of another man rather a teenager boy from room adjutant to hers. That was the routine, Jane would get beaten up and a guy would get fucked up raw._

Jane felt her own center of gravity shifting, she cringed in pain, disgust filled her mind, her insides churned at the painful memory and she fell to ground in her knees, she bent down and bile stared coming up her throat. She opened her mouth to throw up, she felt her form getting supported firmly, her hair were held back. When she was done, somebody had her shoulders wrapped, her weight suddenly shifted and she started falling to ground, Zoro managed to balance her before she could fall to ground and held Jane to his chest,

“Jane, hey Jane? What is it? Do you feel dizzy? You feel like throwing up again, Je! Talk to me dude!”  Zoro asked worried.

It was Zoro who had wrapped his shirt over her form when she was standing near him with her head down, he was walking her to manor, to her room, he did not know what was going on with her, all others were not yet covered from the shock, he just wanted Jane to be okay and safe.

She felt like her wounds were fresh all over her body, bleeding, aching like they did when HE used hit her, all those years back. She started shivering in fear. Her weight was getting balanced by somebody but she felt as if the one who supported her was touching the wounds that man had given her,

‘why were they touching her wounds!’, she shivered uncontrollably at the thought as she felt them touch her aching wounds, she gave pained cries, her body hurt, her wounds hurt….pain…..so much pain…

“Hurts, it hurts!” yelled Jane trying to curl up into a ball,

“What? Where? I will help you, what is going on Je?” asked Zoro worriedly,

“It hurts! Please don’t touch them. Beat me, just don’t touch them! Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!” screamed Jane in pain,

“Je? I am sorry! Hey! Where? What is hurting? Talk to me dear, please!” asked Zoro worried, making soothing circles on her back with his hand, trying to calm her down. What he did not know, the very touches on her back he thought were soothing, his hand on her back was making her scream in pain as she thought her wounds were being touched after the abuse.

“Aaaaaargh!” screamed Jane writhing in pain, Zoro really felt helpless,

“Jane, talk to me please!” Zoro’s heart sank to his stomach watching her cry in pain like that, he just did not know what to do, he picked her up in his arms bridal style, tears came streaming down her cheeks, eyes went distant, her color drained face made Zoro scare for his lover’s health, her cries stopped and she was sniffling, sobbing now,

“Yes, master, please just kill me........ beat me, my mother is a whore! I am worthless, I am a burden!” whispered Jane tears coming from her eyes, Zoro stopped dead in his tracks listening that from her, he looked at her wide eyed. He got worried for the girl he was in love with,

‘What the hell had happened to you Jane? I can’t see you in pain baby! Stop doing this, just tell me what to do? Let me in!’ Thought Zoro but she started babbling again,

“I am worthless, beat me till I learn my lesson! Make me bleed for my crimes. I should not have been born! I am worthless, I am burden, my mother is a whore, I am worthless, beat me, I am worthless.” Repeated Jane in weak and low voice, he brought her curled up from close to himself and held her to his chest firmly worriedly.

“Shssssssh! Jane, you are okay! I am with you! Shssh! Jane, see everything is okay. Look at me!” Zoro tried to talk to her but it was not use, her eyes were so distant, that look on her face made Zoro feel her pain,

“I am worthless, beat me, I am burden” Jane kept repeating, whispering same sentence over and over again for some time till she passed out in his arms when Zoro reached the main hall,

Jason saw them like that, Zoro’s face tensed and Jane passed out, he gave a gasp and came running to Zoro,

“Sir, what happened to her?” asked Jason worried,

“She had another panic attack I guess but this time it’s different. Can you get in touch with her dad? We need him here. We need her doctor. I am going to take her to my room, send Law in when he is ready to come. Go fast!” said Zoro hurriedly before walking away.

\-----------

When Jason went to Zoro’s room, Jane was put into a bed, tucked into a blanket, her face was tear stained, eyes were closed but her eyeballs were violently moving, she was shivering even with two blankets covering her for warmth.

“Sir, master Shanks wants to talk to you.” Jason said offering Zoro a cell phone, Zoro nodded taking device from his hand and Jason went away shutting door close after him, for to offer them some privacy,

“Is it Mr. Zoro Rorona I am speaking with?” asked Shanks in deep firm voice,

“Yes I am Zoro. Sir, please get down here as soon as possible with your family doctor who knows about Jane’s medical background. Look sir, all I can tell is she is having another panic attack and this time it’s very different, she is in pain and I don’t know what to do. She scared the devil out of me, she is muttering bad stuff, like she is worthless and what not, she is practically begging someone to beat her up and kill. I think she has a medical condition also, I mean, she has high temperature and she is shivering and shuddering, it’s dangerous, I don’t know what to do. Please just tell me how can I help her calm down!” Zoro summed up quickly.

“Listen Mr. Rorona, I have already left for Rosolt island but whatever I try and do, it would take at least four hours for me to get there, can you ha…..?”

“Please tell me what to? I beg you to trust me, I really want her to be okay, just tell me how to make her feel safe, how to make her come back here.” Zoro urged him before Shanks could complete,

“You have to do me a favor, keep her away from others, only let Vivi or Law be there in her line of sight apart from you and Jason. Don’t let Ace or Luffy go anywhere near her, she will try to run away from them. If she tries to harm herself, then tie her hands and legs. Whatever she is muttering about, just ignore it but if she tries to bite her arm make sure that does not happen. Just try to sooth her with words but don’t touch her back at all, you can place hand on her forehead, that calms her down and keep telling her that she is strong and she has overcome everything till date. Try to tell her that she is brave and she has fought it once she can fight it again. Can you do that till I get there?” asked Shanks worriedly.

“Yes sir! I will. Thank you” Zoro said in confident voice.

\--------------

After two hours of unconsciousness, Jane moved a little to get on her stomach, she shuddered and shivered as she moved, like she was hurt and her body won’t move much, her whimpers could be heard, Zoro got tensed looking at her, he noticed the she did not move her left leg at all, she opened her eyes put her pupil did not focus on anything,

Zoro could see her eyes hazy and unfocused. Zoro sat near her, he tried to touch her, she suddenly curled up into a ball and started muttering those lines that made Zoro want to grit his teeth,

“I am worthless, beat me till I learn my lesson. I am worthless. Make me bleed for my crimes. No screams, no screams! Beat me, no screams, beat me, I am worthless, I am….” whispered Jane, Zoro put his hand on her back to sooth her but she gave a pained cry the moment his hand touched her back. He quickly pulled his arm away recalling Shanks sentence and cursing himself for acting foolish,

“Jane, you are very important and …you ……..you are strong, just stop saying that okay. I am here for you. Just look at me Je!” said Zoro tried to reach to her mind,

“I am worthless, beat me………” her muttering continued, Zoro now tried to caress her head, she flinched and stopped muttering all of a sudden, Zoro withdrew his hand again,

“Jane, I am here for you. you have fought this before, you are going to fight this again!” said Zoro sincerely, Jane moved her arm closer to her face and quickly grabbed her arm by mouth, rather her teeth and sunk her teeth into her own soft flesh, she instantly drew blood from her arm and tears came out from her eyes,

“Shit!! Jane! No! Let go if your arm, you will bite it off you idiot! C’mon, let go” Zoro said trying to removed her arm from her mouth, he was so frustrated that her did not see that coming even after Shanks told him what to avoid, he felt guilty and could not think of anything to make her quite drawing out her own blood.

“Dammit Jane!” yelled Zoro, he could not just pull her arm back, she would have bite off the chunk out,

“Okay, I am going away! Now relax, nobody is hurting you, nobody is beating you! Now let go!” Zoro said pretending to back away and stop touching her hand,

“Goddamn it! Jane!” yelled Zoro, he was honestly feeling helpless, Jason came in with Law and they saw that horrifying incident too, 

He desperately tried to open up her jaw, Law tried to inject her with sedative but Zoro did not let him as that was even bad for her mental condition, after some seconds while they still struggled with her helpless situations, she passed out again and the grip of her teeth in the bleeding arm loosened.

\---------

Law had treated her wound and they had been seating in Zoro’s room, nobody talked with each other, nobody even looked at each other, Jane did not hurt herself except for the arm thing so Zoro had not yet tied her arms and legs. He was pacing in room, watching Jane’s shivering form as if she was shuddering in pain, his bedsheets and bed were stained red from Jane’s blood. He did not believe the Jane, who was enjoying with everybody, smiling and laughing just hours back, was a complete wreck now.

Few minutes after that she moved again, her eyes were closed but face showed her pain,

“Jane?” Zoro yelled, he saw her moving similar way she had before, he came closer to her,

“No, don’t do it, fight it Jane!” exclaimed  Zoro, Law and Jason now near her bed watching her move, they were ready to grab her feet and hands if they needed to.

But when this time when Jane brought her arm near her teeth,

“Oh No! You don’t!” said Zoro gritting his teeth and put his own arm in, pushing her own forcefully away where her mouth was about to attack and bite on her arm,

“Zoro-ya what are you…?” said Law. She bit him exactly the same way she had done with herself and Zoro cursed “Fuck!” and cringed in pain, she did drew his blood too.

Some seconds of pain, Zoro looked at Jane, his features softened and Zoro whispered,

“You have been doing this to yourself? You idiot!” said Zoro softly as he caressed her forehead,

“Snap out of it Je! Please!” said Zoro softly, Jason did not believe that Zoro could sound like that when his arm was getting cut deeper with her teeth, it was as if he was not hurting at all, he looked at her unconscious form very keenly and lovingly, Law slightly smiled at Zoro’s words,

“C’mon Jane, snap out of it! I need you! Just fight it okay. I cannot see you in pain, you mean a lot to us all. I know you are hurt, I know you are scared, everybody is scared of something; I am scared too, I have fears too but let me help ya! We will smash them away one by one, all the fears, together! I need you. C’mon Je, I know you can do it, snap out of it! Let go now!” said Zoro in deep voice urging her to stop,

“Je Let go of your arm, you need not do it any more, look everything is fine, you are going to be okay! Open your eyes Jane, let go baby!” said Zoro softly, caressing her forehead, he talked as if he was asking Jane to let go own her own arm though it was his, he knew in her mind she held her own arm in her teeth causing herself pain which she as experiencing right now,

Something happened, Jane slowly pulled out and took her mouth off his arm, she opened her eyes and blinked violently trying to focus on him. His face was closer to hers, he looked into her blue eyes. He felt Jane trying to focus her attention on him, her breath still shaky, her body still shuddering, her temple was covered with sweat and so was her body. 

Her expression changed after some seconds, Zoro felt that she was coming back to reality, he smiled at her as supported her limp neck and her body with his hands, he picked her up and brought her close to himself, cupping her face, he made her look at him, he caressed her face with his hand,

“Jane look at me!” whispered Zoro,

“I am worthle..” Jane wanted to ask Zoro what was happening but those words did not come out, instead Jane was repeating those things again, those words that had hunted her childhood. She furrowed her eyebrows as if she did not know why she said that, but she could not just talk what she wanted, she tested the coppery test of blood in her mouth

“No, Jane. Come back to us, here! I am here, we are here. Look! You are okay! Everything is fine! I have got you Je!” said Zoro as he sneaked his injured arm around her waist and took her to his chest and hugged her,

“I am wort..” muttered Jane again but stopped abruptly, Jane wanted to talk to Zoro but all she could speak was those words, she made frustrated sound at the back of her throat,

“Yes, Jane fight it, you have fought it before, you would fight it off again!” said Zoro tightening his arms around her, she felt so safe and warm in his embrace, her shivering started dying down, her breathing was stabilizing, she took long breath,

“Yeah! Take a deep breath, calm down! Breath in!” whispered Zoro as he too took long breaths with her,

“Zoro?” exclaimed Jane in weak shaky voice,

“Yeah! Finally!” Zoro said and gave a sigh of relief, she felt weak, exhausted, feverish. she felt blood in her mouth. He wiped her temple off sweat with his hand, cleaned her chin off the blood. he felt that it was hard for her to keep her eyes open,

“I feel d….dizzy! Head hurts! It…..is….. is heavy! I can’t breathe! My chest is gonna burst open!” said Jane in weak voice tugging on her clothes and blankets.

“I have got you! I have got you! Relax! We will take care of you.” said Zoro, as he put her back gently on the bed, he saw there was quite mess, her blood coming off her arm had been wetting the bed, now his own was all over her back and her clothes, his own clothes were ruined, the bed was a complete waste, there had blood dripping off her mouth, wetting her throat and blankets,

'It's no use of keeping and treating her in this bed, she needs a fresh one!' though Zoro.

“Jane I will take you to your room? Could you get Iber to open it?” asked Zoro softly as he tied a bandana over his wound,

“Yeah!” said Jane weakly nodding,   

\-------

Jane was sound asleep when Shanks made it there, Zoro was seated on chair near her bed, Shanks noticed the bandaged arm Zoro had, Law was resting on couch next to her room, Iber was functioning at full capacity and all others were in their rooms when Jason had followed Shanks to her room. He looked at Zoro and nodded. Zoro got up and walked away to the adjacent room where Law had been sleeping on couch, that room had the balcony Zoro used to jump into. Her arm was bandaged up and she was on some medication laying in her bad peacefully.

Jason gave him update on all that had happened; Shanks was amazed that she recovered so quickly. He was also impressed by the fact that Zoro had out of the way to make her feel better, he stole a glance to Zoro who sat worriedly in the chair stealing glances at Jane, Shanks planted a parental kiss on Jane’s forehead, caressed her head for few moments and reluctantly left for his room.

“You got me worried baby!” whispered Shanks, he sighed looking at Jane’s sleeping form, she looked so peaceful,

“I am sorry I was not there when you needed me! Jane, you have to open up to somebody! I can’t see you like this!” whispered Shanks caressing her head, he sat there near his daughter for some minutes, he felt sad for her panic attacks, it was long since she had stopped having them but after Lucci left her she started experiencing them again.

Shanks had cared for her, he had took them away from her, she was well cared of in his presence, they almost had stopped as she became an adult, Shanks and Jane had almost forgotten she used to have them when she was younger.

Shanks noticed that Zoro was very edgy while he had to sit away from her, as if Zoro wanted to be near her when she woke up. Watching the young green head worried sick over his daughter, Shanks managed a small smile and he got up to walk away so that Zoro could resume watching Jane in her sleep.

\-----------

When Jane opened her eyes, she felt room was not lit at all but Iber had set it on minimum required illumination setting, she felt sore and feverish, she felt her head aching, her skin was itchy. After some time, her eyesight adjusted to room’s dim lights, she felt her arm bandaged, she was put on some medication and ivy ran to her hand connecting it inside her vain. She sighed and turned her neck to find Zoro looking right back at her,

“Hey!” Zoro said smiling,

“Hey!” Jane whispered managing to smile a little,

She felt dejavu….it was just the case repeating itself twice in one week, she made Zoro worried again, she showed her weak side again, she was embarrassed and helpless, she felt like she was going to lose Zoro even as friend let alone as a lover, she closed her eyes trying to make the thought go away,

“You still feel hurt? You need something?” asked Zoro whispering calmly,

“I ruined the party, messed up the evening!” whispered Jane smiling sadly,

“Seriously! You worried about that?” Zoro asked snorting,

“What you want me to worry about?” asked in weak hoarse voice Jane chuckling softly,

“Me of course! I mean you did mess up my bed, where am I gonna sleep? Do I get to share bed with you?” asked Zoro sounding so serious, then he gave her a smirk, she shook her head and started getting up,

“Only if you help me to the bathroom!” said Jane smiling slightly at his smirking face, she moved her hand and took out the needle and ivy away,

“Hey! You need that medication, besides Law would kill me! Don’t take it off, you problem child!” Zoro tried to protest but she did what she had to. He stood up, sighed and helped her up none the less,

“Geez! You behave like Luffy sometimes!” exclaimed Zoro supporting her frame, 

“You gotta go when you gotta go!” said Jane motioning him to take her to the wall as she pointed at it with her hand, she still was closing her eyes more than necessary as if her eyelids were too heavy for her. He put his hands around her shoulders supporting her frame but she slumped on him, he readjusted balancing her as she tried to support herself by gripping his t-shirt.

He raised eyebrow and she swallowed lump in her throat,

“You sure you wanna go there?” asked Zoro sounding suspicious of her request,

She nodded weakly, he picked her up off her feet bridal style and they went to the wall, she pressed up her hand against the panel that had popped up, wall opened up to a bathroom, they entered inside, big white tiled place had two showers, two separate toilets, big beautiful bath tub, a big sink, closet like structure, 

“Wow! This is like two times bigger than my bedroom! I mean my bedroom in my apartment back at Grand line!” exclaimed Zoro as he took her to where she was pointing and placed her down, she stood there near the door for a minute, then somehow managed her weight on her feet and sighed,

“You can wait here tiger!” Jane said at the door of another small compartment that Zoro thought contained toilet,

“I can help you with buttons!” teased Zoro but removed his hands from her waist as she managed her weight against the door supporting her weak frame with her hands,

“I will manage thank you!” Jane said chuckling and Zoro went to explore the bathroom while Jane disappeared inside.

Jane came out after some minutes and went to shower, her skin was itchy from sea water, she opened up warm water tap and Zoro turned to look at the semitransparent blue colored glass beyond which Jane was taking a shower, he took a long and deep breath as kept looking at the blurry outline of her body moving with some difficulty in shower.

When water stopped, she asked for a towel, he noticed many of them were hanging off the white wall; he took a towel and gave it to her. She was still sore, could not move with ease, mostly she has to hold on to something for support, after she dried herself off water, she wrapped towel around her form. She asked Zoro to turn around and when she confirmed he was not looking she quickly made it inside her closet, when she came out with all her clothes in place she found Zoro still looking at door with his back at her, she smiled at his honesty and made her way to him supporting her frame with her uninjured hand on wall.   

“Okay, you can turn around now!” said Jane, Zoro turned back and quickly came walking to her,

“Look at you! Bright and shiny again!” said Zoro as he picked her up bridal style,

“Whoa! Thanks!” Jane said smiling with slightly flushed face.

“My pleasure your highness!” Zoro said smirked at her and made his way to the bed again. He gently put her on bed and pulled away, he carefully took his hand away so as not to touch her wound as he took a step back to go and sit on chair, at his previous position again but Jane took hold of his arm and motioned him to come closer,

“What is it? You need anything? Oh! I should remove that! Wait!” said Zoro and started working on removing the wet bandage off her arm, he put it in trashcan,

He went to another room and was back with some fresh one, he did her bandage again, he told her to wait and brought a towel from his room and towel-dry her wet hair. He put away towel on the table and was getting in his earlier position on chair when Jane grabbed his hand again and pulled him slightly,

“C’mon, get in!” Jane said holding her blanket up, Zoro’s eyes went wide, he was surprised and kind of happy, of course; his eyes sparkled but he still did not move from his place kept staring at her. He felt the pull on his hand again, he moved a little,

“You sure?” asked Zoro moving closer to her,

“Zoro, we are not having sex, you are just going to lie down on the bed next to me!! Geez! Don’t make a fuss about it!” said Jane giving a weak pull on his arm.

He snorted while he climbed up the bed got inside her blanket, he turned on his side to face Jane quickly wrapping arms around her waist. He pulled her to him, she chuckled as she felt herself moving to his chest as if she weighed nothing and she put her head on his chest and settled down comfortably in his embrace, which made Zoro smile giving out sigh of contentment.

“You always smell so nice, like something fresh, freshly mown grass, like fresh dew wet leaves in the forest and like it’s always morning! I have tasted you once and you tasted like vodka, of course we were drinking vodka. You are so soft and you are so damned pretty. It’s hard to imagine that you beat shit out every criminal in grand line!” Zoro praised as he caressed her cheek with his thumb, her forehead was touching his neck, her face was on his chest, hidden from him,

“I am not pretty! At least don’t say it now that you actually have seen me! I mean didn’t you feel like throwing up! I am very messed up Zoro!” Jane said in weak and low voice, closing her eyes, then it hit him like a lightning bolt in head,

“Is ……is that why you said that……..I mean, is that is why you think that you are not good enough for me?” Zoro asked as he stroked her back with his hand,

“Yes, it is one of the thousand other things that make me think that way Zoro! I am a mess!” said Jane softly,

Zoro pulled out a little, but she griped the his t-shirt instinctively as if to tell him not to let go. He made her look at him by cupping her face with the palm his injured arm, he had his right arm around her waist, under her as he held her protectively to him, 

“You are pretty Je, Scars don’t matter. Beauty is a relative term. I mean, the way I see it you are most beautiful girl in the whole planet. I saw that look on your face Je! That look meant something, if that frightened the brave person like you, I can’t even fathom what horrible conditions were around you and what God awful mess you survived in the past and yet you still are this beautiful! I don’t have imagination power nor the words to describe what would you look like if that was not the case! You don’t need to hide them, don’t need to keep it to yourself.” Zoro said in deep but sincere voice, as he moved his thumb slowly and lovingly, stroking her cheek,

“They are ugly! I am ashamed of them! My back is filled with scars.” said Jane with glassy eyes and weak voice, she felt Zoro’s arm tighten around her waist.

“You are a worrier! Battle scars are something you should be proud of!” said Zoro raising his eyebrow,

“Battle scars? Didn’t you look at them Zoro! They are not battle scars. They prove how weak and miserable I was. You know what scars on back mean Zoro! You are a swordsman too!” Jane said as her eyes went too sad for Zoro to bear,

“Jane, they are pretty old and some of them are fading away, I am guessing you were just a child while you received them. For a child, that was a hell of a battle to survive and you did. Those definitely are the battle scars. Some people just don’t have what it takes to fight fair, they don’t have balls to do the right thing, all they do is attack from back and you did not have anybody to cover your back, you still made it out alive. That does mean that you are smart and brave! On top of that, back in the whole grand line, you name is enough to scare people away! So what does that make you? Alluring, Bold and breathtakingly beautiful!” 

Zoro said as he quickly gave a kiss on her lips, a chaste kiss, she was stunned and kept staring at him dazzled by the sweet kiss, he smirked at her stupefied face and she cutely blushed as the thing sunk in her brain, before hiding her face in crook of his neck. His embrace was warm and cozy, she felt good and protected, she put her injured right arm around him to hug him back. She felt the rough cloth of bandage on his arm and then noticed white wrappings around his left arm which was now caressing her waist from above the fabric of her clothes,

“Zoro, I did that to your arm, didn’t I? Why did you have to put it there, you knew what I was doing, then why? How much more of an embarrassment I have to be to you? I am sorry Zoro I keep hurting you and making you worr…..!” Jane said sounding frustrated but Zoro did not let her complete,    

“You kidding right?” Zoro asked and he snickered,

“What?” 

“Don’t gimmi that Je! You are just jealous that I got lucky!” he said smirking, Jane was just very confused at his words,

“Zoro? Wht…?”

“Je, I mean now I can put my name in the records they maintain! Seriously, who else is going to get such a sexy big ass love bite?” Zoro mocked giving her proud face shooting his left eyebrow up and down, her expressions changed from frustrated to flustered,

“Idiot!” yelled Jane trying to scold him as she felt herself blushing at his statement and saw him chuckling at her blush.

“I told you that I care about you Jane, and I meant it! This may seem a little cheesy and it is one of those very commonly heard dialogues in movies but trust me ‘There is nowhere I would rather be than in here with you right now!’” Zoro said sincerely, but he continued so as to lighten the mood,

“So, stop pulling me closer, you are squeezing me in here, and more over you are injured and I am not going anywhere even if you kicked me out.” Zoro said teasingly as he took her arm and rested it gently.

“Sh...Shuttup! Don’t treat me like I am made up of glass.” said Jane trying to pull out from him but he had her in his grip.

“Oh! Thank God you are not! That could really have been problem then, would it not!” chided Zoro again, Jane hid her face again,

“Goodnight Zo!” said Jane smiling against skin of his neck,

“Goodnight Je!” Zoro whispered and he gave her a kiss on her still moist head.

Shanks was listening to their conversation, standing in the shadows, looking at them with slight smile playing on his lips, Jane did not even know he was there in the house, nor did she know Shanks had taken a risk letting Zoro handle her situation further than he already needed to because he wanted Jane to understand there is love in the world and Shanks had sensed that Zoro was that perfect person for his daughter.

\---------------------------------------

**_After an hour and half of silence………._ **

 

“Emergency message to Castle king! Emergency message to Castle king!” 

There was low beeping sound and some voices were there that disturbed her sleep, Jane woke up and she noticed that she was rather entrenched in Zoro’s warm and tight embrace, she blushed a little, her head rested on his muscular chest. She felt sluggish but there was that sound again,

“Emergency message to Castle king! Emergency message to Castle king!” the words snapped Jane out, she moved and gently pulled herself out from Zoro, she made her way to table where was placed an old-tech black colored one way communication device, she took it in hand while shutting the alarm off, a glass screen emerged out and Jane was pulling out some files,

“Castle king to Castle knight, Come in Castle knight! Over!” Jane said, her voice made Zoro wake up, he sat and took the whole situation in,

“Relay the massage, you are good to go! Over!” there was some noise at which Jane raised her eyebrow, she was opening all the screens she got in that room, the cameras were coming to life and all screen started showing the live camera feed of whole mansion from inside out, Zoro looked at her form and then to all the screens,

“Black cats spotted, approaching castle south, southeast. Forest hold out! I repeat Black cats spotted! Over!” said the voice.

Jane pressed some more buttons and typed something in touch panel,

“Shanks, what the hell you were thinking coming here???” exclaimed Jane as she looked at his room’s status and sighed in frustration, she knew he could override her controls and everything she was controlling in there.

The main screen on which Iber was showing up files Jane was accessing from main server, it also displayed ‘Lock down sequence initiated!’, timer went up and started counting down. There was a window on screen blinking that said ‘contact headquarters, authorization pending’

“What the hell is going on?” Zoro whispered, he was now standing near Jane, Jane gestured him that they are being targeted as she spoke,

“Approximate ETA to castle, I need approximate ETA to castle! Over!” said Jane,

“Lock Do ---[device screeching]----27 minutes, I repeat, we recommend! Lock down the castle. ETA 27 minutes! Over!” said the voice,

“Can castle knight confirm the number? Over!” asked Jane as she opened the ammo file, Zoro saw how much weapons the House was stored with.

“Negative Castle King! They are mixed forces, over 100 and counting, some vehicles spotted with mercenaries, others appear to have full tactical clothing, automatic weapons! Over!” added the person. Jane muttered curse under her breath.

“Going off grid. Contact on SSP Over!” Jane said and put the device down on table.

“Copy that! Over!” was last voice before device went dead.

“Iber contact Jason”

Some number was dialed, Zoro saw Jane dismissing the window on the screen that was asking the authorization to contact the headquarters, she quickly put some codes and some small drawer like thing opened up giving up icy waves away as it came out. The small chamber was at freezing temperature, she again typed in a code and she took out two of the small pill like looking structures which had small needles growing out form them. Call was connected and Jason spoke,

“My lady?” he sounded wary,

“Jason, took you long enough! Be quick to pick call next time, there are many people who can take up your job. Now, gather everybody and ask them to meet me in my room, it is urgent, room is open, you have 20 minutes. I want to talk to them.” Jane said in sharp voice, Zoro raise an eyebrow at that but kept quiet as he assessed the situation,

“Now? My lady?” Jason asked with discomfort as he felt his earlobe being nibbled and he was being fondled with while he talked, he actually was with Marco and was nowhere near in condition to run an errand for Jane,

“Right now Jason! That’s an order. 20 minutes or you are fired.” Jane said and hanged up before Jason could reply.

“Yes your highness!” said Jason and Jane already was gone offline,

“Boy, he must have caught up in that condition you know! Marco had got him good! Hey, you telling me what is going on? Why does it sound like we are under attack?” Zoro asked folding his hands over his chest,

“Yes that’s correct, we are under attack Zoro! I need you to help me. Take this!” Jane said while matching a watch to hers, she handed it to him, he put it on quickly and Jane carefully placed the two delicate dart-pill looking things in his hands, they were cold to touch.

“What attack Jane?” Zoro asked as he kept the cold objects in his hand,

“I need to you go into the room in the last on the left, left mean opposite to side where our rooms are, this keycard will allow you to access codes” Jane said giving him her key card in second hand, and writing something on his palm,

“Type this code on panel and go inside. Shanks would be reading or may be working. Shake hands with him or do something just poke his skin with this pill somehow, you understand this.” Jane said and she wrote a number in his palm with pen,

“Will this knock him out?” asked Zoro,

“Precisely! Take this bud. Insert it in your ear, keep this in pocket at all times. You can listen to me, you would act on my command. You have seven minutes for the task!” said Jane giving him small single earpiece and put some black colored device in his pocket.

“Hey! J ..Jane?” Zoro sounded unsure,

“I have more war time experience than you. Now, does that make me your commanding officer corporal?” said Jane in voice that could very well be compared with first sergeant commanding his men.

“Yes Ma’am!” said Zoro,

“Then I believe you have a mission to complete, soldier!!! C'mon, move out! Be quick on your feet!” Jane said looking into his eyes keenly, Zoro gave a curt nod and walked away for doing what he was told to do. 

\--------------

When Zoro got back somehow completing the task, he found Marco and Ace sitting on the bed, Vivi and Cohza were there sitting on couch, all the screens and devices were vanished like they never existed, but Vivi was looking at TV screen in which said ‘Stand by.’

“Zoro, I thought you were with Jane?” said Ace with a slight silver of a doubt of whole thing,

“I was but she said that I ..” Zoro was talking but Jane stopped him all of a sudden,

“Zoro don’t tell them yet, we don’t want to create a panic!” came voice in Zoro’s ear,

“What?” asked Ace raising his eyebrow,

“She must be in the bathroom!” said Zoro quickly,

“What? Where is bathroom, there is no other door in here? Room looks like a big frigging prison cell for Fuck’s sake! What is she doing?” said Ace in frustrated voice as he sat near Marco,

“She will be back! Just a minute!” said Jason as he made his was inside, now all of others started coming.

Zoro listened to what Jane was speaking on other end,

“David, take everybody to basement, the last chambers. Nobody gets out till I say so. No press release, Keep local law enforcements out, media off sight, no publicity, nothing. Get permission for no fly zone, Even if they demolish this building nothing should get out!” ordered Jane to old man David as Zoro heard her talk,

“I will take care of that Ma’am” was his reply,

“Alex, Mike, there is no body of us outside the premises?”

“No My lady!”

“I need that knife, give it to me. Okay boys, keep eye on 32nd doorway! Cavendish is on his way!”

“Yes Ma’am”

\-----------

Soon all gathered in the room, Luffy and Chopper was yet to arrive, Zoro stood near the doorway. Waiting for Luffy to come.

“Zoro! Zoro!” came Jane’s voice,

“Yeah!” whispered Zoro looking away from all of them,

“Is everybody there? Including Jason?” Jane asked,

“Yeah! Just Luffy and Chopper are remaining. Where are you?”

“Coming!” said Jane.

\-------------------------

As soon as Luffy was inside the room, Zoro knocked him out with the drug, Chopper and Usopp gave a scream, Girls actually did not notice what happened for a moment there before they showered Zoro with questions. He sighed and sat on chair, mostly all of them were sitting where they got places to sit at. Room was different than other rooms and they all did not know why Jane had asked them to talk now, it was half past ten and they still had no idea how Jane’s condition was after that panic attack.

Jane cleared her throat, everybody saw her standing outside open door, in the area just outside her door. Everybody got up on their feet, gawking at her with guilt in their mind; their eyes flashing the same as they looked at her, there was pity in their eyes and sympathy on each and everybody’s face. Jane flinched at the very thought and gritted her teeth at memory how she got panicked after they all saw her scarred body. She gave them a disappointed look before her eyes met with Zoro’s gaze.

His eyes were calm and sincere, they did not held pity but he was worried over her, she could tell the difference. There was thick, pin drop silence in room, they all did not know what to say and many of them including Sanji lowered their heads as they could not now keep eye contact with her,

“Lock them down Iber! Nobody gets out till the threat is over!” said Jane and pressed her hand on panel outside the door button,  

“Safe house Protocol activated!” came the computerized male voice.

“No! Take me with you! I can help!” yelled Zoro making way to door as he heard what Jane said, the door closed shut quickly before anybody could know what had happened. Zoro also got locked up inside, he banged his fist on door,

“What just happened? What the hell just happened?” asked Marco, he looked for Jason but Jason was nowhere to be found.

“Why did she lock us down in here? What is going on?” yelled Vivi,

“Something is off!” said Law looking in room suspiciously,

“This building, the manor is under attack!” said Zoro sighing in frustration,

“What? Who is attacking? And Why?” asked Vivi panicked

\-----------

Zoro explained and told them what had happened, Law muttered a curse under his breath,

“Zoro, she was on medication just two hours before! She also did not have any food in her system just the liquid what we could manage from the ivy. You think she can handle all of those on her own? That Idiot!” exclaimed Law in worry.

“We are her team, why not even take us?” said Usopp panicking and worrying about Jane,

“No contact can be made outside, No cellphone is working in here! What we do now?” panicked Vivi,

“No cell phone?” asked Nami,

“How is she going to fight all of them off?” worried chopper,

“Why you locked us in here Jane!” was sad question from Tashigi’s mouth, she could not help but worry about her new found crush,

“Let us break open the doors! She needs somebody with her” said Sanji,

“I don think that is going to work, looks like safe house, she knows what she was doing so..” said Marco,

“Yes, Marco is right! One cannot just break open this place, not even with weapons. I don’t even have any clearance level to ask him anything! Shit!” said Law massaging his temple,

“What that computer guy?” asked Ace,

“What clearance level is required?” asked Zoro as he remembered is clearance level being modified to 6 by Jane when she took him to her room first time,

“Well, A1 is highest but anything up to 7 can get him to talk to us and up to 4 can make him work for us even if just a little.” informed Vivi,

“Well mine is 6. What do we do?” asked Zoro.

“Go, press that button and let him talk to you then we will see” said Law giving him impressed look. 

“Iber, you there buddy! We need your help here!” said Zoro as he pressed a big red button which said Iber.

“Mr. Zoro Roronoa, how can I be of any help!” was male computerized voice.

“Well, we need to go and help Jane. But I guess she won’t let is out that easily! So what can we do to help her in this battle?” asked Zoro carefully framing his sentence,

“Spectate and coordinate!”  said Iber,

There were total 10 screens that Iber opened from all the walls, every screen showed nine camera live feeds, they saw Jane on a room on fifth floor loading up a classic bull up gun, she had her tactical gear on, black shield, helmet, black boots, pistols on her waist, grandees wrapped around her waist and chest west, she was checking the magazines and some more weapons,

“Jane you there?” said Zoro,

“Yeah! I am there Zoro! That was smart! Got Iber to open it up hun?” said Jane, all of them saw Jane responding,

“You wanted me to find that, you wanted us to do what we are doing right now! Don’t play dumb and start giving instructions okay?” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on her,

“Okay Okay! Sherlock!” Jane smirked,

“What? You can talk to her? You knew all this time that she would do this?” Ace yelled at Zoro and pushed him back giving smack to his shoulder,

“Relax Ace! He did not know!” came her the voice in room and everybody was astonished.

“Ahem, Okay! Vivi, Usopp and Law, eyes on screens, set up your vision and guide me though the manor, rest all keep quiet! Zoro don’t let go of the earpiece just yet, I have another plan for ya!” said Jane.

“Jane you wanna die?” Law said frustrated,

“Shut up and follow orders lieutenant!” yelled Jane, there was a sound of a shell and blast, they all felt the sound, gasps and yelps were in room, Marco gestured all to keep quiet.

“The fuck!” exclaimed Jane gritting her teeth,

“Okay! We have an outer perimeter breach! Confirmation!! The South-southeast gate has been breached, there is a hole in gate!! Jane I can see the people with black clothing and helmets entering the gate, lining up with shadows near wall!” said Vivi,

“There is movement on the south lawn, fountain is gone, I can see a bazooka, Jane they really have weapons of good measure, let some of us out!” suggested Law worried about her,

“Not an option Law!” exclaimed Jane,

“Jane, I can see movement in the bushes, you think they have snipers!” screeched Usopp,

“Okay bitches, you want to play dirty? I play dirty!” said Jane. She went outside of the room and they all started searching Jane to show up on one of the other cameras,

“There she is!” said Zoro as he spotted Jane in balcony on the fifth floor, she got aligned with a shadow, she had a night vision on but she already had a sniper rifle already in place there, they heard her taking a sharp breath and then they all heard shots getting fired, people were seen getting collapsed even before they heard shot getting fired,

“Take that bitch! Take that!” Jane said as she shot them.

“That is the DSR 50 sniper! Now that's called a gun!” said Usopp admiring the gun,

“Hell yeah! and they are going down!” Jane was babbling as she took out nearly seventeen people,

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Jane and they saw her withdrawing, she barely made it out from there carrying her weapon with her before the corner of the balcony she was in got hit by anti-tank small scale bazooka, Zoro slammed his hands on table, Ace gritted his teeth, they noticed that half of the balcony was gone, there was lot of noise and sound of debris falling, no sound of Jane,

“Shit!” exclaimed Sanji, others were pretty rattled that nobody made a sound except from occasional gasps and yelps, 

“You brought anti-tank hun? Stop hurting my house you son of a bitch!” they heard her yell but they did not know where she was,

“Thank God!” said Vivi, she spotted her in the hallway down to fourth floor,

“Jane you okay!” asked Usopp,

“Stop talking! My ears still ringing people! gimmi a minute will ya!” chided Jane as she was finding good spot to attack from,

“Jane, you are giving your location away using sniper!” said Usopp panicking,    

“What you suggest I do Usopp! I used the fastest goddamned gun we have! And I think I did pretty good for being a rookie at sniper!” mocked Jane as they heard a metallic sound as of gun was being set up again, they again heard shots getting fired, this time they did not know where Jane was nor any camera could pick her up, but they saw people getting hit by the bullets.

“You little shit! You hurt ma house! You are so dead!” whispered Jane and they heard more shots.

“Jane, there is inner perimeter breach, we have movement underground tunnels, 20th door way in!”

No response form Jane came, signal was lost for a moment, they all got tensed, the speaker came back to life again,

“20th doorway? Fuck! That would lead them what………to the library on fourth floor?” asked Jane, they heard another explosion, after some time the signal cleared up again and Jane spoke up,

“Iber map of tunnels on screen!” yelled Jane as she kept firing her weapon,  

“Yes Jane, you are right! The library it is!” confirmed Law,

“Got you cam fG3! Now turn on next corner, then there should be the trapdoor at approximately at 10 feet!” said Vivi,

“Okay!” Jane said as she dropped her empty gun there, took out her pistol and ran to corner, she peeped her head out a little to see if area was clear, apparently it was so she ran, she appeared on next camera screen, she was running cautiously looking out for signs of intrusion but suddenly they all saw her getting shot at, the bullet hit her shield and she felled down,

“Jane!” exclaimed everybody,

“Damn it!” whispered Jane as she cringed in pain, there was blood on her body. She was laying on floor unmoving, a man with automatic big gun pointed to the target, covered in black uniform of some kind came walking to her slowly, taking careful steps to her shot-down form, he saw blood, but there was not much, he pointed it to her head,

“Please don’t shoot! Please I just work here! I don’t even have a weapon! I will tell you where to go…..please…..!”Jane started crying loudly, he got confused for a second so got distracted,

“What the hell?” exclaimed Sanji,

“Oh! What a beauty! Where is your master? Tell me and I will let you go!” spat the man dirtily,

That man was looking at Jane like she was some helpless girl, he smirked and Jane took her shot from a pistol she had in her other arm, he was shot in head just above his left eye, his finger on trigger snapped it and bullets came out from barrel emptying his gun, she looked away ducking away from it and his bullets could not hit her but got fired aimlessly as he had his finger on trigger the time she shot him but lost his life none the less,

“Who is boss now hun! Who is tough? Bitch! You think I would cry! Don’t make me laugh!” Jane cussed kicking fallen man in guts for shooting at her,

She picked up his gun and ammo, she even took out some of his grenades and his knife, she pulled him away from area and made him sit in the corner, she searched the dead man for radio or a walky talky, found a communication device, some smoke and lighter. She took out her boots, lit a cigarette and puffed out some of her frustration, took another cigarette and stuck it behind her ear and pocketed rest of it. She made her way to find the trapdoor, she had a big gun hanging off her blood stained shoulder as her hand was busy holding pistol and her boots in other hand,

“Vivi, there ain’t no trapdoor in here!” said Jane managing the cigarette between her lips,

“Jane, you smoke?” whispered Zoro with disbelief in his voice, Law looked at him and snorted,

“She is a soldier! What you expect?” Law chided with a sly smile,

“Wait!” exclaimed Jane and she tried to take out the old painting hanging off the wall also old cupboard that was placed there,

“Damn, this stuff is heavy as hell!” said Jane pushing the old furniture out of the way,

“Ray! What is your position? Ray, report back!” was the sound from communication device of that dead man,

“We are in library, coming up at your position.” Was another sound, Jane changed course of her action and hid herself near the cupboard she had been pushing away from the wall,

“I see shadows at 10 O’clock” said Law,

“Two more helmets at 3 O’clock!” said Vivi,

“Shit!” said Usopp, while Marco narrowed his eyes on screen, all others were tensed up,

Jane slid down, took out the cigarette and threw it as she took out her knife, placed it on ground ready to pick up when she needed and focused on her right side for 3 O’clock targets as she aimed her gun at them.

She heard their footsteps and there were footsteps from other side too, she took two men at her 3 O’clock and as her position was now known to people on other side she rolled out from her her hiding spot and threw a knife killing one on the spot, she also took aim with gun but she got hit by a bullet in her injured arm by them, she fell backwards, she threw the heavy gun aside and took shots with her pistol, shooting down three more men in head,

“Drop your weapon!” was the exclaim,

“I have a pretty little hostage here you might want to save, drop your weapon, princess!” said a man in glasses as he came in the view of camera, he along with captured Jason made their way in her line of sight, he had Jason’s head on gun point as he had his arm around from backside of his neck to chock Jason, his hands were tied at his back, she was so confused how Jason got captured,

Jane stood up, still pointing pistol at him, she looked at Jason angrily as she thought that he must have escaped even before she locked them away, Jason was bleeding, his side was badly injured and there was wound on his head too,

“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing? This prick here killed my two men! But I got to look at you because of him” came a voice which Usopp and Kaya were very familiar with,

“I know you! Captain Kuro! Wait! You are working for Blackbeard? what happened? Did your balls dropped off? Or Did he cut them off, as I can see, you don't need them any more!!” snarled Jane, she still had a gun aimed at him,

“You got some nerve!” hissed Kuro,

“You got some nerve attacking my island you sick bastard!” spat Jane,  

“I know your shot is good! Now drop that weapon or this pretty boy dies! I came here as I had got information that Straw-hat bastard is here. I volunteered. But you are not that frightening as they all seem to think! You are just a pretty girl with some combat abilities.” Spat the man in black outfit,

“May be you leave my boy and we both drop weapons, let us see who is frightening, fight me one-on-one!” said Jane, Kuro nudged the gun in Jason’s head earning a whimper out of him, Jason was injured on his head, Kuro was playing with his injury, Jane gritted her teeth watching Jason suffer like that, she heated that thing the most and she had decided to make him learn his lesson.

“Bastard! Don’t fucking hurt him!” yelled Jane angry,

“Huuuuuummm!” moaned Kuro menacingly as he took the gun off Jason’s injury but choked Jason hard making him shiver in pain,

“He did tell me you are jiu-jitsu lover! But I will agree to let go of this brat if you agree to be mine, you seem like a good catch may be you are just as wild in bed!” spat Kuro, Zoro gritted his teeth muttering a curse under his breath,

“Oh! Is that so? Where did you learn to make those moans, may be you are being black beard’s bitch, I bet you are so wild in his bed, so I will have to say no to you! Take your shot Caven!” yelled Jane as she suddenly drooped her gun and leaped forward to grab Jason, Kuro got shot in the head before he could decide if to shoot Jane or to Jason; his associates hiding in other room were shot down before Kuro knew it and Jason was yanked downwards before bullet got fired in his direction from Kuro’s gun, Jason had missed the bullet just by hair,

Jason was rattled to the bone and Jane sighed as she was able to save him, Marco gave a sigh of relief and he had Jane to thank for saving his lovers life, not once but twice.

Cavendish along with Bartolomeo had taken down Kuro and his little division who had managed to snuck up in to the manor,

“Took you long enough!” said Jane making Jason stand up with her, she checked for Jason’s injuries and untied his hands,

“I took out 21, what is your score!” asked Cavendish to Jane as he looked at her injuries,

“Liar! You took out just 16!” exclaimed Bartolomeo,

“Quiet! Don’t interrupt while two beautiful people are talking! Jane, why did you take your errand boy to battle! Seriously! Can’t you manage without him even for an hour?” chided Cavendish pinching Jason’s cheek, Jane did not respond to his antics but started patching Jason up, Cavendish sighed as he threw his arm over Jason’s shoulders, Jason panicked at Cavendish’s gaze on him while Jane looked after Jason’s injuries and was cleaning his wounds for checking for any bullets in his wounds, he tried to protest but his hand got slapped away,

“Okay! Let me just understand this thing! You take your friends to your own island for party! Umm…Some of them accidentally happen to be in white beard’s army, not to mention that famous rookie racer 'straw-hat', that famous SAWT officer and may be a Billionaire banker’s daughter and some pretty princes from some rich island! Oh my god! Not only that but you also got whole of your Hawkeye team here! No, No…. you wanted to risk it even more, more fun hun! You invite the highest ranking officer of other army and one of most important men in top officials in the world! If that is not enough to get you bombed at; then I don’t fucking know what is!” Cavendish said mockingly, 

Meanwhile Jane was checking for any other evidences as she scanned the dead bodies along with Bartolommeo, they were searching the dead men for some clues, 

Law, Vivi, Marco and Zoro now clearly understood why there was an attack on her Manor and why she had urged them not to go out of the premises, 

Usopp looked at Kaya and said, “That’s why she said 'no going out of the premises'!”

“Why just she didn’t tell us! We could have gone quietly or something!” said Tashigi,

“She did not want you to go at all and do your fucking shopping! You could have done that back in the grand line too! She risked everything for you, you pulled a dirty prank on .....!” spat Zoro but,

“Shut up Zoro! None of this their fault!” yelled Jane while Zoro was still talking,

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up Caven before I shut your trap for you!” Jane scolded lighting another cigarette,

“What??? We are being heard? You have wire on you?” panicked Cavendish,

“No I am cutting them off soon, just want Iber to take care of them till I am alive.”

“That piece of shit computer? Just get rid of the wire Jane!” yelled Cavendish,

“They are locked in there with no outside communication, now shut up, I can’t cut all the comms!” explained Jane,

“Fucking shit!!” complained Cavendish.

“ _Ursai_ _na_!” Jane yelled at him as he was being annoying, she tried to reach her wounded shoulder and tried to take out whatever was trying to bother her injury, Cavendish came closer to take a look at her wound, 

“Whoa! Whoa! You got a piece of glass stuck in your shoulder! God! That is why you are bleeding! Come, I will take it out!” Cavendish said and he tried to take it out with his hands and Jane gritted her teeth in pain with hiss,

She yelled in pain as she cussed ‘Fucking Bazooka!’,

“Locking down everyone of you...[hissed Jane in pain when Cavendish tried to pull glass out if her bleeding wound] ......taking you by the surprise! I had one shot at that plan Jason, one shot! And you messed it up! Look how injured you are!” yelled Jane at Jason,

“It’s gonna hurt Jane sweetheart! It’s not coming off easily, as you played with it now it’s slipped deeper inside your shoulder, I am using a knife!” said Cavendish, Jane gave a pained hiss as she flinched in pain, closing he eyes she cussed some more,

“Steady! Steady! I got it, I got it!” said Cavendish trying to sooth her,

“Hurry the fuck up!” yelled Jane, and then yelled in pain as he cut her skin,

There were hisses in Jane’s room where they watched Jane’s shoulder being cut even more to take that thing off her skin, she was bleeding as it is, Zoro clenched his fists and Ace gritted their teeth looking Jane injured like that, they wanted to be with her, fight with her, Law was so angry at her decisions,

“Caven, I have got a bullet in arm. Take it off too, will ya!” Jane said panting as she released her held breath after she got that glass out of her wound for good, now she felt better,

“That feels better!” said Jane and sighed and Cavendish took her comm line speaker, turned it off and smashed it under his boot. Zoro’s ear piece was lifeless now, dead, he took out the object and sighed worriedly.

“Why you did that caven?” asked Jane frustrated.

“Shh!” said Cavendish stubbornly. What Cavendish did not know she had a backup line connected to Iber in her room that connected her to her room, they were not hung out to dry, they were going to know what was going on outside.

“Morphine?” asked Cavendish, Jane shook he head,

“No! That thing slows me down” said Jane,

“Okay, Yeah! I see it!” exclaimed Cavendish as he took a look at the wound, she had got shot with a bullet in the wound she made with her teeth on her own arm not long ago,

Cavendish looked at Bartolommeo, he sighed and spoke,

“Yeah! Make it fast! Don’t have much time!” spoke Bartolommeo,

“Give me the fucking scissors!” exclaimed Cavendish,

Bartolommeo threw the item to Cavendish, he took a bullet out quickly, Jane cussed in pain,

Pain was working her mind, as she was lighting her cigarette when Cavendish was wrapping her injury in some cloth, she almost forgot everything else around her when she saw Jason’s wounds bleeding again, Jane gave death glare to Jason for that, he panicked before he spoke up,

“I wanted to fight, I wanted to be useful too, I too wanted to protect everybody, master Shanks and our guests. Isn’t this you trained me for?” Said Jason weakly, looking at her,

Her arm and shoulder of same side were in pain now, as Cavendish wrapped last layer of bandage Jane hissed in pain and gave Jason another death glare,

“Shanks does not require imbeciles like us to protect him, he could take on 20 like me at any time and won’t even break a sweat to win! I am not protecting him you numb-nut!” yelled Jane,

“But!” exclaimed Jason in panic but Jane did not let him speak as she continued,

“If they get a visual confirmation that Shanks is here, on this very island and my whole team is present here with prestigious guests like Marco and Ace from whitebeard’s army, and some more VIPs, you know what will happen??? More force will pour in! This island would become a battle field, the innocent will lose their lives, and for WHAT? Because I DECIDED TO HAVE A PARTY ON THIS fucking ISLAND!” Jane almost yelled the whole time she was explaining her reason to fight alone,

“I did not even thought about it!” whispered Law in frustration,

“God! Capt’n is in the league of her own hun!” praised Usopp,

Zoro did not have any words, he fell in love with her all over again, he knew he had found a jewel and he was right, almost all girls had their hands on there mouths with expression of surprise and worry on their faces, Marco sighed and Ace dropped his shoulders, Chopper and Usopp had teary faces,

“You get it now?? I told you to stay put, I wanted you to stay away from this battle, this house, my friends, it's my responsibility, it's my ass; what your duty was to obey me, I wanted you to assist them in all possible situations! WHAT IF I DIE AND THEY DON’T GET OUT SAFELY! YOU DISOBEYED THE DIRECT ORDER YOU FOOL!!!”

“Hey! Quit yelling! We have got a movement downstairs!” Bartolomeo said as he was on guard as they all were taking care of injuries, Jane dropped her shoulders and sighed in frustration,

"God! Jane, What am I gonna do with you!!" whispered Zoro,

Jane stood up and walked to Jason, she put her hand on the shorter blonds head, patted him a little,

“I did not want to yell at you but you can be real pain in ass, I can’t let you get injured for me, you could have died back then, you idiot. I did not take you out of that horrible thing to get into another one! I trained you and I told you to fight what what you believe in but what is the most important rule?” said Jane softly,

“Always protect myself!” said Jason nodding, Jane nodded back,

"Atta Boy!!" said Jane smiling.

"Jane!" panicked Cavendish and BBartolomeo, 

“We have to guide them up Barty! Come Jason, take this, you cover my six okay!” said Jane handing him a loaded Pistol and a mag, she cleaned his bleeding face with her sleeve and torn his own shirt to cover up his own wound again, then they took out Curo’s shield and helmet to give it to Jason, they gathered up ammo and scooted away,

\-----

After continuous fighting for next hour and half, they four made it out of the house, there were dead bodies scattered left and right in and outside of the mansion, she found two men retrieving and one was running towards the window,

They ran to the man who was running towards the mansion while Jason took out the two running away from mansion, they caught the man and he started laughing madly, he grabbed Jane’s hand and took bullets from her but did not stop laughing, she narrowed her eyes on him, opened his jacket as she saw some wires. There were fuses and lights on him with wired explosives,

“Fall back! Take cover! Live Bomb! Take Cover! Fall back!” Jane yelled, he was not letting go off her,

“The Fuck?” yelled Bartolommeo,

“Oi! Cabbage, what is she doing there? Jane, you too get back, you idiot!” Bartolomeo inquired worriedly,

“What the hell are you doing Jane, back the fuck off!” yelled Cavendish at Jane as he stopped dead in his tracks horrified for her life but he did not want to disobey her order,

“What are you doing Jane, Get the hell away from him!” yelled Ace in her ear,

“Fuck! Ace! Don’t yell in ma ear!” Jane said an took the com bud off her ear,

“Shit!” said Law, all of them had eyes fixed on camera and all were on their feet, Ace was pacing and Zoro was so damned horrified for Jane’s life, girls on room were rattled with all the action, Tashigi was almost in tears so was chopper and Usopp, Kaya and Vivi were panicked. All other boys and Cohza understood that Jane had to make harsh decision and they respected it now.

‘What am I going to do if you get killed like that? Don’t you dare die on me like this Jane! Don’t you dare to die on me! I love you so damn much and you can’t leave me like this! This is not fair! You were in my arms just this evening, smiling at me just a few minutes ago, every fiber of my being told me you had feelings for me exactly the way I feel about you, I can’t lose you! You can’t leave me! Not like this!’ Thought Zoro as he looked at his lover taking down the man covered with explosives,

Zoro felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned to find Marco looking back at him,

“She is not going to die!  We won’t let her!” said Marco calmly,

“Zoro, she had always miraculously come back alive, from every difficult the mission she ever took up, that girl knows how to pull it off, she specializes in most ridicules and impossible ones, don’t worry!” said Law confidently,

“Come back Captain!” said Jason, he was running to her but he was far too away,

“Take Cover! Fall back!” ordered Jane again going away from all the three, she shot the guy in the head between eyes and timer started counting down, she dragged him away from the house as far as possible,

“Jane come back right now!” yelled Cavendish, she was just trying to move him away from the house,

Timer was counting down and Jane dumped him in a ditch in lawn that was created due to this invasion attack, she ran away from him, after few seconds the bomb exploded, there was huge explosion, many cameras lost signal, many things collapsed, Jason was out of range but Cavendish and Bartolommeo experienced some shock and heat of explosion, they got some debris falling on them, Jane was thrown off to a wall and then they saw her getting buried under debris unconscious.


	15. SCORN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucci meets Jane finally, tries to get her to talk but that does not go well, she is very much messed up after she sees him. 
> 
> Jane finds out what is wrong between Shanks and Mihawk! she doesn't react well to that too! 
> 
> Zoro helps her get out of the shock, he asks her to share some of her burden and asks her to open up, she finally starts talking 
> 
> Zoro gets finally his feeling reciprocated!!

Jane seated on the table top in Zoro’s cubicle, Zoro stood by the shelf reading from the file he had in his hands, Wiper standing in his own cubicle leaning on the wall between his and Zoro’s, Wiper had Jane look into the papers and photos he had in his hands. Jane’s team was discussing about some case in which serial killer had been killing young women. They already had got four dead young girls and Jane’s unit was working on the case on a priority basis. Vivi was seated in her cubicle next to Wiper’s, she had been analyzing the phone calls that the victims received before they died,

“Captain, Laky says no foreign fingerprints on the body, no scratches, no injuries, no sign of struggle during sexual contact….but…. see, all four of them have common blood group, they all are brunettes and they all used same perfume, this does tell us something, yeah?” Wiper asked raising his eyebrow,

“Hey! The last one was the blonde!” was Vivi’s exclaim,

“Hair color might be! So, same Perfume and all the brunettes; so this guy has a type eh? Blood group may be a coincidence but we still have to think it as a possibility, he may know them beforehand. I mean they all died because of some common reason, and that connects them to the attacker” was Jane’s reply as she kept thinking about the dead women,

“No common work place, they live in different areas I don’t know! May be it’s just random pick, he is taking up a similar victims just to throw off the investigation!” thought Wiper aloud,

“May be! But these serial killers are whimsical you see, they want to outsmart us. They like to show off, they tell us what they do that is until and of course we figure out how they do it, it’s like they are saying ‘I am going to kill, so what are you gonna do about it!’” Jane said as they all looked at her,

“God! These physcopaths!” exclaimed Vivi,

“Vivi, did you find anything yet on phone records? The photos they took, places they visited? Any common numbers they got called from? Common contact numbers? Anything that would tell us about the pattern?” Jane asked as she looked at Data Wiper showed to her,

“No Jane, nothing yet!” said Vivi,

“Talk to me little lady!” Jane said taking a photo of the recent dead body they had found, Kamakiri made his way to Zoro’s cubicle watching Jane sitting on the table top, he exclaimed ‘Cap’n!’ and threw an apple for Jane to catch,

“Here is your apple captain! I have got something for you! Here!” he sat on Zoro chair and handed her over the papers.

Zoro was looking into some files, rustled few papers hurriedly, some photos got dropped, he crouched down to look at them, he picked them up and then suddenly went to his terminal and checked something on his computer,

“They all went to the same high school! That’s good work Kiri!” Jane said, Zoro tapped on her shoulder and then turned the monitor towards Jane for her to see what’s on the screen,

“I found something too! This last girl, she had a missing piece of jewelry, that pendent! Look! There is this photo in traffic cam just an hour before she got into that cab, I was looking at the items we collected as evidence, cross checking with the photos we took and from what we got from cams and other sites. The guy keeps all the things on the corpse, he spats in our face by doing that, but I think he took something from this girl, looks like she wears this necklace all the times but it’s not on the body!” 

Jane raised her eyebrow and whistled as she made everybody look at her,

“Okay people! We are looking for an expensive piece of jewelry, a gold pendent that looks like inverted triangle and star within it, now search where the hell that thing is, who sold it to her. Wiper find John, get somebody to file a lawsuit, I want a search warrant for her house and her boyfriend’s. Kiri you are going to search for the shop, find out  who sold that item to her, looks pretty expensive we might be able track that thing, take Zoro’s bike if you want. I don’t want a single possibility left out and hey!! Watch your tail, no Hawkeye vehicle. Zoro, get that address we are going fishing and Wiper, would you call Laky for me? Vivi, get me everything you can on this girl!” said Jane and started eating her apple,

“Yeah boss!” said everybody and got to work they were assigned to, meanwhile Wiper called in the forensics division, Jane was still looking at the photo of dead girls scattered on Zoro’s table,

“God, why don’t you have a car? Bike sucks!” Kiri complained,

“Quit your whining, not a word about my bike!” Zoro scolded,

“I am gonna get a cab! Keep your bike! Travelling in Taxi is like you almost are invisible, I won’t have to worry about tail so it’s better anyways!” replied Kiri showing ‘smart face’ to Zoro.

Jane shot her head up after listening Kiri speak and stop chewing on the bite she took, thoughts started running thousand miles per hour in her head and she came up with a clue,

“Suit yourself!” Zoro mocked,

“Wow! Say that again!” said Jane,

“Say What?” Zoro and KamaKiri asked unison,

“Kiri, you said that …Travelling in Taxi…….” Whispered Jane wide eyed,

“Yeah! So what?” Kamakiri got confused so was Zoro,

“That’s it! That’s it! Our suspect could very well be a Cabbie, a cab driver, and search for the plates in traffic cams around the crime scene, in which cab they all got in! C’mon! Vivi I want those plates, search for the Drivers, find if it’s the same guy they met as a cabbie.”

“How did you….?” asked Kamakiri,

“Well, they are getting killed Kiri!! Mostly sexual assaults have signs of struggle, on neck, legs, thighs, private parts, but the victims are all fine. They did not have any vehicle to travel with it means they all took cabs, they all were poisoned, a pill to kill, think???? Why were they found dead far away from their house or work area, murdered after they are done with the sex, they trusted the guy that means…..”

“This guy is roaming around looking for victims; he thinks he is invisible because he is a taxi driver or he travels by a cab, he somehow charms them! They easily get entrapped! Shit!” Said Zoro completing Jane’s sentence further, Jane made a hand gesture saying that is what she was thinking about and she nodded to Zoro,

“C’mon Zoro! We have lot of work to do! Wiper get me that warrant! You are searching for the Cabbie, Vivi, I want that guy as soon as possible. Scan the plates, I am going to downtown.” Jane said and jumped off the table top she is been sitting on,

“Laky is on the line 2, Boss!” Wiper exclaimed as he had called Laky as Jane had given him instructions earlier, Jane took the phone to her ear and started speaking,

“I know this is going to be embarrassing Laky, but tell Martin that we are not looking for Blood on dead bodies but the semen inside their female system or may be human hair, you understand what I wanna say! I want to track down this bastard, I want his DNA! You got that? I want to know if all of them had a sexual contact with the same guy!” said Jane and hanged up the phone. When Jane looked up, all four of them, including rest of team around her were staring at her face,

“What the hell? Have I got something on my face??” yelled Jane,

Everybody shook their heads at her,

“Then, get Back to work ladies! C’mon! That Maniac is out there and if we let him roam free, he gonna fuck and kill another girl! I am not willing to let that happen! Now get your asses back to work” yelled Jane in scolding voice and walked out from there, Zoro followed her as he shook his head at her dialogues.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That evening, after working hours, Jane was filling up a report on her laptop, Zoro sat on the sofa in Jane’s office, he was talking on cellphone with Ace.

“Yeah! I will try! See ya Ace!” said Zoro and hanged up.

Zoro stood up and made his way over to where Jane was seated,

“Hey Jane! C’mon, buy me a drink!” Zoro said as he took laptop away from her and started completing her work. 

“Boy! You want me to buy you a drink just for some typing you do for me!” came Jane’s amused voice, she rested her head by putting her chin on the fleshy pad of her palm and looked amused at Zoro typing her report, she snorted at his smirk and took in a long tired breath,

“What you want me to do to make you buy me a drink then?” Zoro asked in husky voice as he gave Jane a sexy smirk,

“And people say you don’t flirt!!” mocked Jane smirking back,

“That’s really getting old Je! And they are right, coz ain’t nobody has seen me doing as such. By the way I am not flirting with you, I am flirting at you, you don’t reply!” Zoro chided with sly grin as he shrugged, Jane glanced the bullet wound on Zoro’s shoulder which was making a reddish mark on his shirt,

“Hey! Now that is not true, I do reply! By the way, you were amazing today, I am glad we caught that bastard before he could harm another women, and it’s all thanks to you. Man! You took a bullet for me, how do I thank you for that, it would have hit me in the head, I had just took the bloody helmet out before he took his shot, I would have died.” Jane said snorting,

“You would have done the same for me so forget it!” Zoro said sincerely,

“You don’t look like you feel any pain from the shot though!!” mocked Jane,

“I do feel pain! I am used to put a face like this! I mean we all do!” chided Zoro back,

There was knock on door, Law came in after few seconds, Jane’s features tensed when their eyes met, Zoro noticed that he turned his head to look at Law, Law nodded at him as if to say ‘It’s okay’,

“Zoro I need to borrow your Jane for some time, do you mind?’ Law asked teasing Zoro, smiling slyly as he came and sat on the sofa,

“Of course not!” said Zoro a little flushed as Law said ‘his Jane’ as he spoke to Zoro.

Zoro got up taking Jane’s laptop in his hand, Jane’s eyebrows twitched at Zoro’s reply,

“Wait Zoro! Sit down! Captain Trafalgar Law, we don’t have anything to talk about, please leave!” said Jane closing her eyes,

“Oh! I do have something to talk about even if you don’t.” Law said stubbornly,

“I will make sure nobody barges in! Take your time!” Zoro said and Law nodded at Zoro. Zoro looked at Jane’s angry face, eyes closed, brows furrowed, her hands folded over her chest; he sighed and left the two best friends to talk alone and shut the door behind him.

\-------------

Law went over to Jane and moved her chair so that she would be facing him, he crouched down in front of her, placed his palms on her knees. She still had closed eyes and irritated face,

“Jane-ya, I am leaving the Grand line tomorrow. Will be gone for long time! It’s been crazy times, sinec that say, it’s like whole hell broke loose, that incident and then the attack on your manor then you were so much injured, that day when I saw those scars on you, I did not know how to react. Not because I wanted to know how you got them or where they came from, it’s just that you kept it from me. Did you think that…. that if I knew………….” Law sighed as he stopped in middle of the sentence seeing her expressions change; she looked sad now, she was not angry anymore but extremely troubled,

“You thought that if I knew, it would change the way I look at you? Do you really think that less of me Jane?” whispered law, Jane opened her eyes to look at him, his brown eyes, held questions for her, he had hurt in them,

“Of course, you get to decide whom to tell your secrets, I am not the only your best friend you have got, I am also your doctor Jane, I thought you should have shared that with me! But, the way I reacted, I guess, I was not worth it after all hun?” said Law bitterly,

“Law!” whispered Jane sadly looking away from him,

“When I returned here, I started working on case of that clown again……that Ceaser, I have found something wired, I never thought something like that would relate to the murder of my uncle. I am going to investigate it further on my own and I took this promotion so that I would get to know how things work with the world government people. So, I am leaving.” Jane did not say anything even after all this,

“Jane-ya, I know you did what you think was right, I am sorry for doubting you. I think, I would have done the same, I just could not stomach that incident. But I am telling you now that I have one secret that I am keeping from you which I would tell you about when I will return.” Law said calmly.

“I did it, because I wanted to save you the pain! I did not want people around me, keep pitying me! I needed you Law! You have been my only friend since forever! You freaked out and you left me alone!” Jane said nearly scolding him,

“Yeah I did, I am sorry!” apologized Law, he put his head down on her knees, as if bowing in apology. After a minute, Jane fisted his fluffy raven hair in her hand and made him look up at her face,

“You know how difficult it was for me? When they suddenly told me that you did not want to work with me? You fucking Idiot, I thought I lost you for good!” scolded Jane and then released her grip on his hair.

“Same here! I thought I lost my friend forever! And Whole new team on top of that! It’s been very difficult but I have to start somewhere Jane-ya!”  Law said finally flashing his sly smile, Jane also smirked at him.

“I wanted to talk to you about you and Zoro.” Law said in sincere voice, Jane looked at him a little flushed,

“What about us?” Jane asked impatiently,

“Okay, so it has become that special!” chided Law.

“Hey, stop teasing, speak up okay! What is it? Did he say anything? Is it about Sanji?” asked Jane in irritated voice,

“No! Not that. When we got back to the Grand line, I knew that this thing between you and Zoro had become way more serious. I know how much of big deal it has been, at least for him it has, so I really started looking into it, connecting the dots, and I have found something.” Law said with deep voice and serious face,

“go on!!” Jane said raising her eyebrow, Law got up and sat on table top in front of her chair,

“Jane!! it’s about four months back. I check you up, treat you and you are in the Boss-ya’s place, sleeping in medic room, I get a call from Zoro-ya. He is all panicked and asks if he checked out a girl for the first time in his life and if he thinks that she is hot, is there anything wrong with him.” Law said,

Jane gave him ‘what the hell’ face.

“Right! Now, there feels no apparent connection between the two things, I had thought the same myself back then, but bear with me for some more time. Now, we have this birthday party at Luffy-ya’s place, it’s Nami-ya’s birthday, Zoro-ya and Sanji-ya are supposed to get some food and cake from _Baratie_. He calls me up, says that he met somebody while he was on his way to _Baratie_ and he thought he liked a girl who helped him get there. And when I dug deeper for some more, I found that that girl was you!”

“That’s right! He did say that he saw me at the traffic lights for the first time and yes, I recall dropping somebody at the _Baratie_ but I don’t remember that it was him. I mean, I had other things on my mind, you know better!” said Jane as matter of fact,

“Yes! Now the thing is he thought he was gay, he actually had a thing for Sanji. Yes, as unbelievable it may sound, he had. Now, at that day, he suddenly calls and asks if he is going mad, and you know why because he felt ‘that’ way for a girl. I tell him that it’s not something we are born with or an organ or some part of body that identifies if we are heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual. He gets confused. I explain him but he still is confused. Now, I carry out my own research. For you and for him.” Law keep telling her what happened, Jane got shocked listening Law speak like that, she had never thought that it was such a big deal for Zoro,

“Research? Tell me about him first! Is he okay?? Is he gonna be okay??” Jane asked in confused voice,

“Yeah, My god Jane, you already that worried bout him!!”

“Hey! Keep talking!!”

“Thing is, we all saw him kissing you that day and he seems so attracted to you, nobody has ever seen him eyeing anybody like that before, let alone a girl and he keeps talking and talking to you!! It’s all really shocking, I mean, we never had heard him talking like that. Does he try to touch you more intimately?” Law asked in his normal tone, as if he was asking her if she wanted sugar in coffee. Jane felt little flushed, her cheek dusted slight pink, she narrowed her eyes on Law, 

“Law?” her voice had little scolding tone, his eyebrow furrowed,

“Jane-ya, please just answer, I am not interested in your romantic life or rather sex life; I am trying to find out something here.” Law said sincerely closing his eyes. Jane sighed at the awkward situation, after few silent moments, Law opened his eyes and spoke in impassive tone,

“Okay Jane-ya, you are ought to feel awkward. Okay! Let me tell you something. I was never about dating you know that, never really got into relationships. I kept it simple, just sleep around, of course the girls were ready for that and I did it for a while, even enjoyed it but never got romantically involved with any of those. It all stopped when I met Eustass-ya. I am really into him right now, I think I love him. I am a bisexual, I knew that since forever but had no other guy in my life, now when I know how it’s like to be with the one you love, I don’t really want to be around anybody else that way.”  Law spoke as if he just gave a weather report. His voice was impassive, Jane had wide eyes and raised eyebrows,

“You are insane!!” whispered Jane awkwardly,

“Okay Jane-ya, now tell me, Has Zoro ever tried to get intimate with you? Does he try to touch you that way?” asked Law,

“Um….Yeah he does, I mean not much but yes, hugs and cuddles………Um……he really wants to mark me whenever possible, he in fact leaves marks every time if he is..….shit!! …this is so awkward….. to talk about, just see this!” said Jane looking away,

She pulled the collar of her shirt to reveal the red mark Zoro had left on her neck, reddish pink mark on her white skin, one that had developed as Zoro nibbled on her neck, while they were returning home after their morning workout session, just after they took showers and went to have a coffee, he had grabbed her out of the blue and had her against the wall as he enjoyed feel of her skin in is mouth. Zoro was unable to keep away from Jane and she failed in keeping him away. Law saw the mark and gave a curt nod, like doctor checking his patient’s wound, Law had no awkwardness on his face but Jane’s face was getting redder by the minute, she quickly hid the mark again,

“Okay good. So I am right. About you both.” Law said thinking something,

“Good? What good? How can you sound so cold and calculated about it? What are you getting at Law? Just get to the point already!” Jane said in irritated voice,

“Okay! Okay! Relax! Jane-ya, what I want to say is Zoro is a Demi sexual! So, when he says he loves you he really does and he won’t say to any other person, I mean it’s hardly a possibility that he will ever feel that way for many people.” Law deadpanned, Jane was confused, she never had heard something like that………….

“He is a de.. what? What the hell you just said?” Jane asked in confused voice,

“You are literally illiterate! Look, you know there are various sexual orientations, like homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual and like that. Well, there are these people, demi sexual, you see Jane-ya ..[Law pointed at her neck, meaning to point her love bite, the mark Zoro had left]…………these people like Zoro, they experience this kind of attraction to very few……I mean really very few people.” Law said stressing the word ‘very few’.

Jane had flushed face but she was listening to him intently, she wanted to know what Law was saying about Zoro,

“For them to be attracted to somebody they need to form an emotional and romantic bond with their partner and as for others, to all other people they simply are asexual. So the emotional attachment, emotional intimacy is factor that is important; and as each and every case it different, there are no specific things to categorize the level of emotional bonding but I can tell that he has developed that bond with you, like he had some kind of bond with Sanji, but he could not get romantically involved with him that much but he has found his romantic side due to his intense emotional attachment with you.” Law informed,

“Law, that is not possible. For such kind of a bond to develop, there should be some considerable amount of time to be spent together. I mean he knows me for what like three months, four at the max, I don’t think tha….” Jane was expressing her doubt but Law interrupted her,

“Jane, would you just trust me on this. I have done my homework, there are cases where people develop that bond within a week or a case recently reported, guy had just known her for a time they spent during the flight. Really Jane, I can bet a million berries on thing that even girl as beautiful as Boa cannot seduce Zoro in getting intimate with her. It really has no other explanation, his behavior towards all other girls that hit on him and even boys. And nobody could ever get anywhere with him ever, it has no other answer!”

“Shit! Poor Tashigi! She really likes him.” Jane exclaimed worried,

“I am talking about you two you moron! And she seems to like you more than she likes him!! Anyways, now we talk about you. You are not a demi sexual which I thought you were even before I thought Zoro was one! I tried it on you and ..”

“You did? What you mean by tried that on me eh?” Jane asked angry,

“Even before I thought about him being one, I tried to figure out if you were a demi sexual or not. Jane-ya, we tried to get you to date people, I tried to set you up. I even tried to hit on you myself, you remember that day in the elevator before I took you to meet Luffy-ya and others? I was trying to get a reaction out of you, blush may be, I noticed your pupils dilated when I told you that I wanted a chance at you before I left the grand line for medical studies. I took your pulse, you were distracted for a split second. That day you were so pissed at me, that is why did not develop a blush but you do get affected by the intimacy, you react when people try to get intimate with you. You are not like Zoro, I have kept an eye on you. You are just a stubborn ass, you check out boys, don’t you? But you just did not want to get in relationship! Or you just did not want to sleep around, or you don’t find your type, or you are afraid that you might face a heartbreak!” said Law shrugging,

“Yeah! You are right! I don’t want to experience a heartbreak again and I did not want anybody in my life to have that kind of control over my heart! Just did not want to have the one person who could break me easily, I did not want to be vulnerable again.” Jane said in low voice, she gave a frustrated sigh, her mind felt going numb, that was lot to take in at a time,

“I know but I say, go ahead with Zoro-ya, he really loves you if he says that!” Law said putting his hand on Jane’s shoulder reassuring her,

“Law, he still has a choice, Sanji is way better choice than me. I am a mess and you know that.” Jane said dropping her head down and resting it on her hand,

“I think that choice is his to make! Let him do that!” Law said as he got up from his position,

“Man, you had to tell me, hadn’t you? Shit! So?? Zoro is special hun?” Jane said massaging her temple,

“No idiot! You are special to him, use some brain! I am worried about you both! You really should know what you mean to him. It’s a very big deal for him Jane-ya. Don’t just screw it up now. Forget that son of a bitch Lucci and give Zoro-ya a chance will you?” Law finally said what he had been trying to say as he took her hands in his own and made her stand up,  

“Law that’s enough, I will think about it okay! But don’t mention Lucci, please.” Jane said as Law gave her quick goodbye hug,

“Yeah! My bad! You know what, I have definitely got your type figured out!” said Law smirking,

“Yeah? You are not one of them, shoo now!” Jane said pushing him back,

“Yeah! I know I know and I am going! You are not my type either, I can’t fall in love with you, I don’t see you that way!” Law said snorting and walking away.

“I know, Bye law!” Jane said nodding, Law had already made his way to door and already unlocking it,

“I will see you when I see you then! Goodbye Captain! Take care!” Law said as he walked away from her office, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants,

Jane saw him waving goodbye to Zoro, Zoro was in his cubicle, working on something, typing in on her laptop, half of the office was empty, only night support staff whom worked after hours were there.

Jane sighed looking at Zoro, she was leaning on the door frame, standing in doorway; Zoro looked at her made a questioning face asked her if anything happened, she shook her head saying no, he motioned her to come over. She smiled slightly and made her way over his table locking her office as she went, he took her hand in his bending from chair a little, pulled her and made her stand closer to him,

“So, you guys good now?” Zoro asked. Jane simply nodded as she gave him slight smile,

“Good! Finally! But you still look troubled! You worried about something?” Zoro asked raising eyebrow, Jane shook her head.

“Oh! So you feeling bit overwhelmed? Numb? Right? I have felt like that before! I don’t feel like talking when I feel like that. You want to go home, to your dad?” Zoro asked as he was checking with the things that thought were going on in Jane’s mind,

“Why I think that you can read minds Zoro?” Jane snorted, Zoro brought her hand near his mouth and spoke against back of her hand,

“Oh! Because I am awesome! Simple! Off you go now, I will complete the report and I will go home too. If you feel like going out call me, maybe a drink would do you good!” Zoro said kissing her hand and then her fingers before letting her hand go,

“Okay, I will call you! Thanks Zo!” Jane said nodding and walked away waving him goodbye.

"Just doing my job Captain!” 

\------------------------

Jane made her way to Shanks’, she needed him now; she needed him to be around her. Though not with her at that moment but his presence in the same room or near her would also make things better. She would just sit in his study or his bedroom while he kept doing his work or reading or anything. Since she returned from Rosolt island, she was staying with him only, she had kind of gotten used to him being around in same house as her in a month or two she spent there she had been feeling good, like old times, as it is Mihawk was not around much, they just were left alone with each other like an incomplete family.

Jane got into the apartment, she went over to the beautiful bar that Shanks had in the living room, took out a bottle of vodka, she went to kitchen looking for olives and snacks, she took a packet of potato chips and picked up can of olives, chewing on one she made her way to the study, unknown of what was going on in there.

“Go home Mihawk!” She overheard Shanks’ very angry voice that made Jane stop dead in her tracks, she got very disturbed at such an angry and disturbed voice of her beloved father,

“This is my home!” Mihawk growled quickly in his deep but bossy voice, Jane got angry at his attitude and walked further to find them looking pissed at each other,

“No! It’s not.” Shanks said impassively changing his tone from angry to disappointed and turned on his heels so as to turn his back on Mihawk,

When Jane finally entered, Shanks was standing by the book shelf with his back facing her and Mihawk, Mihawk was standing by the door, Mihawk glanced at Jane, furrowed his brows further and walked away from both of them putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Jane did not talk or try to stop him; he also did not spare her a second glance. After few silent moments, Jane emptied her hands by putting whatever she had been holding in her hands on the table and made her way to Shanks to hug him from back. Shanks eyes widened in surprise at the realization of her presence and his tense features dissolved in the worry.

“Jane! I thought you were with Zoro!” Shanks said in soft voice as if to erase his angry and bitter voice from her mind, he knew that she never had heard him speak like that, when Shanks was angry nobody could talk him down, he was devilishly stronger and out right deadly when he was pissed, he noticed her small hands were around his torso in loose and weak grip, he firmly hold her shaky hands with his larger ones so as to keep her close,

“I am here now, with you!” said Jane as she rubbed her cheek on taller man’s back,

“Did I scare you?” asked Shanks in soft voice again,

“Dad, what is going on between you two?” asked Jane sounding sad,

“Nothing you need to worry about. What did you bring now?” whispered Shanks trying to sound normal,

“Vodka and olives!”

“Oh! Vodka today? Why? What happened?” Shanks asked her worried,

“Nothing you need to worry about!” Jane said trying to sound like him, in fact trying to mimic.

“Jane! Okay Baby! Look, me and Mihawk, we are not good as of now but it’s nothing I can’t handle okay! Now don’t worry!” Shanks said patting on her hands,

“Yeah? I have never heard you speak like that. That upset and angry?? You never lose your cool! Just what happened? What has he done to make you sound that pissed hun?” demanded Jane in worried voice,

“Baby, you want to ask Zoro to come over for dinner? I cooked for three, thought Law would come before he leaves. But I am not in the mood to call him up, and he must have already gone out by now!” said Shanks avoiding the topic.

“No, you cooked for three of us; you, me and brother. But he screwed it up, he did it again, didn’t he?” Jane asked getting angry at the situation,

“No, he was not even in the city when I cooked. Anyways I am so glad that you came, I was about to call you!” Shanks said caressing her arms those were wrapped around his torso, her hug got firmer suddenly, he felt weight against him growing a little, he understood that she was very distressed now,

“Shanks, I am sorry! I am so …..so sorry that he keeps hurting you over and over again! God! When is he going to learn? There does not exist no other person that loves him more than you do! That ignorant brute!” spoke Jane in very low voice, barely above whisper. She felt desolated, she rubbed her cheek on his back to get some comfort of it,

“I know you understand. Don’t sound so glum baby!” said Shanks but he was so disturbed himself, he was terrified at the thought that if he had looked at her, looked at her face, he might not be able to assemble the courage to assure her that he could handle this thing with Mihawk on his own,

“You are agitated, you are sounding despondent, tell me what can I do? Just tell me! Please, I want to do something for you too, you always help me in every possible way, I want to be helpful, even if just for once.” Whispered Jane,

“Shssh! Nothing that bad has happened! Stop worrying!” Shanks tried to calm her down,

“No! Tell me first!” demanded Jane said almost crying,

“Okay….then you should stop crying, stop knocking yourself out with the pain that you have kept buried inside your mind. Start taking it out once a while on something else other than yourself. You know what I am saying? Start expressing yourself, start talking……so that you won’t go into panic, keep yourself safe for us! Can you do that for me?” Shanks said in worried voice as he took her hands off him,

He turned to look at her and to take her in proper hug so as to make her stop worrying. Her glassy eyes bored his warm brown, his face was sad and worried, he took her hands in his own, he was pulling her close but she would not budge.

She was confused by Shanks’ reply at first, she thought for few silent moments, then it hit her; her eyes went wide, tears came streaming down her face, Shanks furrowed his brows in worry looking at her angry face,

“You two fought over me! You guys had a fight over me, because I got that stupid panic attack, so It’s all my fault! I let him down again!! I let you down. My situation incepted your fight! Shit!!” Jane whispered disappointed, pulling her hands back from his, now this was Shanks’ turn to be surprised, his eyes widen slightly, he realized his mistake.

“What! NO! Don’t think like that!” exclaimed Shanks worried,

She hurriedly cleaned her face off the tears, her eyebrows furrowed in deep scowl, frown made the way on her face, she took two steps back from him but he was trying to pull her closer.

“No, wait! It’s not like that!” Shanks said taking a step towards her, trying to catch her hand, she backed away from him.

“That is why he won’t come home, that is why he is been away, that is why he won’t speak to me, that is why he is doing this to you and to me!” spoke Jane agitated, her voice dangerously shaky from the anger as she took each step away from him,

“Jane, no! Don’t assume things! Honey, come here, calm down okay!” Shanks said in apologetic voice, he panicked at the tone of her voice, he knew he had done wrong, he should not have said that to her, he gritted his teeth as pleaded her to calm down,

“And you!!!…..you have been lying to me! All this time! I messed up, didn’t I?” whispered Jane with teary eyes, hurt and discomfort clearly written all over her beautiful features,

“Jane! Please baby, I am sorry, it’s not the way you think it is, I did not want to keep you in the dark but I could not tell you either. Just don’t go, don’t leave. Come here, calm down please.” Shanks said as he got hold of her hand,

“Don’t! Don’t you try!” warned Jane in angry voice as she jerked away his hand,

“Honey! Please come back!” exclaimed Shanks as she walked away from him, soon he had his head in his hands, his knees on the floor, his eyes sad.

\----------

Jane took off from Shanks’ apartment but did not feel like going to her own, she was not able to control her tears, she knew going back to office was a bad idea, she ditched the elevator and made her way to staircases. After thousands of steps she was finally out of that stairways. She felt lucky that nobody had spotted her on her way out, she was not in mood to handle any questions, she was about to exit the back door of tower main building into garden outside when she felt her hand being grabbed,

“Shanks!! I said don’t!” yelled Jane as she glared looking back over her shoulder only to find Zoro,

“Jane? It’s okay! It’s okay!” Zoro said pulling her close,

“No! Let go Zoro. Right now!” she said in bossy and angry voice, he let her hand go immediately and raised his hand up, as if surrendering,

“Oaky! Okay! Chill!” Zoro said trying to calm her down as he stood in front of door so as to stop her from going out.

Shanks had called him up and told that Jane might be in bad mood and might not go back to office, Zoro had ran to find elevators empty and not in use so he had somehow figured out where Jane was and finally had made it to her,

“Why are you here? How the hell did you find me? Why the fuck did you stop me? You think you know everything? You think you can make everything fine? You..” Jane was angry beyond limits, Zoro could see that she was troubled, he felt bad.

“It’s Okay! You can take it out on me sweetheart! But not in here, you know Cameras!” said Zoro trying make fun out of the situation,

“You are in the way Zoro, don’t make me order you or make me move you away at the gunpoint!” said Jane closing her eyes in annoyance,

“Try me!” Zoro said smirking as he closed his eyes and kept his hands up in air.

There was some soft rustling, next moment something metallic touched his chest, over his heart before it got lifted up, he could hear the sound of gun barrel being loaded with bullet, then it was placed on his heart. Zoro’s face relaxed instead of showing any discomfort, he dropped his shoulders as he got perfectly relaxed, the guards outside the door scooted back from them in spite of the bullet proof glass that covered the building.

“Move or I will shoot!” Jane’s voice was hoarse when she pressed the gun-head onto his chest over his heart,

Zoro’s face was calm so was his voice, his eyes were still closed,

“I don’t know what are you so pissed at but I can’t let you go!”

“I said move! Follow your order Mr. Roronoa!” spat Jane,

“I am sorry but I can’t!” said Zoro calmly and put his hands behind his head and got ready to get shot at.

Jane’s eyebrow twitched at his attitude, she gritted her teeth and there was a sound of shot firing, Zoro did not even flinch at the sound………

The guards gave gasps and silence was thick, Zoro opened his eyes as he felt no pain in his body, gun was dropped on floor, slight fumes coming out of the hot barrel, she had used a blank. He looked around but Jane was nowhere to be found.

Zoro called her cellphone, he cell phone beeped in staircase going up the first floor, he picked up the gun and followed the sound, she was indeed going up, she had her hands in pockets of her jeans, he followed her to the elevator, they went to the underground parking, she took out her car, she let him get into the car without any protest or any words between them.

\-------------------------

They roamed around city aimlessly, she drove just from one place to other, finally stopping at a bar named Rain dinners, it was not a good or decent place, but liquor there was good. She parked the car and got out, so did Zoro. They went inside, she went to seat on barstools at bar, she ordered a drink for herself, so did Zoro; no words got exchanged between them for half hour, Jane did not even look at him, he kept stealing glances at her and keeping eye on her movements.

Bartender was charming young man with short brown hair, deep brown eyes and lean muscular physique, he had a goatee and rectangular glasses on his handsome face which suited him just fine; he was trying to get Jane to talk to him, but even he did not get any response either. Zoro kept mum, he did not try to get closer to her, just let her do whatever she wanted. She took her cellphone out and did something on it while she kept drinking. Zoro wanted so much to know what was wrong with her, he wanted to know what she was thinking about, he wanted to comfort her so much but she was acting like he was not even there with her. He sighed in defeat and kept drinking his beer, silently eyeing the love of his life in pain, feeling angry at his helplessness. Her troubled mind pained his own but she did not say anything at all, she avoided everything and everybody all the time they were seated there.

Jane was about to empty her beer mug but she was served a dry vermouth with Vodka, a delicious cocktail with three olives placed in the glass very artistically. Jane looked at the drink and bent backwards going away from it,

“I did not order this drink!” Jane said to the Bartender in confused voice, he smiled seductively at her and bent over to get closer to her, she further pulled back to get away from him, Zoro was about to jump in but Bartender spoke,

“You are right love!! That gentlemen over there, you see black suit, black hair, green tie, looking right here at us, he offered this as compliments! You know what, you are really beautiful, your eyes are so mesmerizing! May I offer you another after this one??” asked the Bartender taking her hand in his, Jane narrowed her eyes on him and pulled back her hand hurriedly, she did not look at the one who had asked them to offer her the drink but she was irritated at the flirty bartender,

“Look! I don’t nee..” Jane did not complete as the handsome brunette talked again,

“And yes, before I forget to tell, your tab is already been cleared by the same guy!” said the bartender smiling at her very seductively,

Jane did not care to look at the guy who had asked bartender to give her that drink, she was so pissed at that drink that she did not know what to do with it. It reminded her of Lucci; she had always preferred it if not for her stout, scotch or rum, it was so carefully done exactly the way she liked it to be and correct number of olives in it. Only he knew that, somebody just out of the blue recommending her that drink to her, wait! What??? Jane’s eyes went wide, she gawked at the said drink as if it was going to transform into bomb or something. Jane swallowed thickly against the lump in her throat,

“Hey! What is it?” asked Zoro, she quickly grabbed Zoro’s hand still looking at the drink as if it would explode. She got up panicking, Zoro messily took some money out of his pocket and kept it on wooden platform to pay for his beer.

“We are out of here!” said Jane and still did not look at the person who had ordered that drink for Jane, she was so dammed scared, scared for Zoro’s life………

When they were making their way out from the place, her hand suddenly was grabbed and she was yanked back,

“Zoro get the hell away from this place!” yelled Jane without looking back at who was pulling her back,

“I am not leaving without you!” yelled Zoro stubbornly as he grabbed on her hand trying to keep tab on her,

Jane tried to hold on to Zoro’s hand but her smaller hand slipped off his fingertips and Zoro lost track of her, she soon was lost in crowd. The crowd was very thick and lights were dim, he got worried and started looking for her but he did not find her in there anywhere.

\-------------------------

When Jane was yanked suddenly she had lost her balance and she soon found herself balanced against the strong body of a tall lean man, she was in the arms of a guy. She noticed the stranger who had pulled her with some force; he was tall, taller than her, he was muscular but lean, he felt so familiarly strong, his hands were slender, lean but muscly, that familiar black expensive suit, white shirt, sleeves rolled up all the way to elbow, she did not want to look up to see who has got grip on her wrist and now her waist too, she was scared of what she might find, scared of the familiarity of presence and who was the one walking her somewhere she did not want to know. Her eyes went glassy, her head was hurting, her chin was touched by the calloused fingers making her look up at very familiar face. Those dark smoky eyes, those arched eyebrows, that handsome face, that confident look,

“Jane?” exclaimed Lucci at her hazy eyes,

She shook her head saying no, she blinked violently, she prayed to all the Gods in the universe for this guy not to be Lucci, she just wanted to kill herself right then and there. She wanted to curse that man so much, she did not even have her gun, she was not finding any energy to use her martial arts, as if her life, her energy was being sucked away, her power was being drained down by some device,

“Hey! It’s me. Say something! I wanted to know, why were you hospitalized like that? Why were you so much injured? Are you okay now? You got me so worried!” asked Lucci, his voice was not soft but not cold either. Her head was numb now. So much pain, she did not want to surrender to that pain, she did not want to go into another panic attack, she was done being weak, she did not want to cry.

“Jane! It’s me! Lucci! Your Lucci! You okay?? Have you recovered from your injuries? Why were you injured like that baby? What had happened?” asked Lucci.

‘Why! Why is this happening now? Is this guy really Lucci! Or I am hallucinating! Am I in panic? Am I imagining all this?’ Jane was thinking as she looked at Lucci with troubled hazy eyes, she was so shocked she did not speak anything,

“I came back Jane, I came back to you! I could not live without you! I am better with you, you complete me! I want you with me! I know it was difficult for you, so was for me! I had to leave at that time, I did wrong but baby I am back and I am not gonna leave you now!” said Lucci cupping her face with his hand,

‘Lu…Lucci! Lucci is back?? No! Don’t! Don’t touch me like that! You!! Just go away!’ though Jane but could not find her voice to protest his actions,

Lucci leaned in to catch her lips in his own, he held her face with his hand and held her firmly with his hand on her back,

‘No! Go away!’ Jane wanted to push him away, she wanted to run from there but her body won’t move, she felt her body freeze on the spot,

“I love you Jane!” said Lucci and Jane’s eyebrow twitched,

‘No! You don’t!’ thought Jane, as she saw his face coming closer, she urged her limbs to react, somehow Zoro yelling her name at distance was registered in her troubled mind.

Ringing from Lucci’s words her ears had finally picked up Zoro’s voice. She narrowed her eyes on Lucci but focused on Zoro’s voice, she thought of Zoro and suddenly found strength to pull herself together. As some energy had started surging in her system, she put quickly her palm on Lucci’s face holding him at bay,

“Jane! Hey! Don’t!”

She bent back to pull away from him, she made some distance between them and kicked Lucci in guts with all force she could use, he did not react to her kick but his grip over her hand loosened.

She saw that Zoro was down stairs looking for her, she did not even know how and when she had reached upstairs. She ran to Zoro, avoiding being caught again, she skipped few steps, jumped over many things and finally responded back to Zoro’s yells. He sighted her and wave of relief washed over him, he stretched his hand out for her, she grabbed it and he pulled her to him.

“Who the hell was that? How the hell they got you like that” Wondered Zoro.

“Forget it! Let’s go!” said Jane as she made him follow her. They went out of that place.

They went to car, she got inside of it,

“You have a gun on you?” said Jane,

“Yeah! Of course!” said Zoro,

“Load mine! Here!” threw Jane her gun to him and they took off in hurry, the drive was quite rash and fast. They went to Zoro’s apartment, the older one. She stopped the car but did not get out as if waiting for something to happen. After half an hour of silence, she sighed and threw her head back.

“Can we go in there?” asked Jane,

“Yeah! You told me keep the place so I guess it’s still empty!” Zoro said in calm voice as he got out, she followed him, he opened the door and went inside. The furniture, some old things and old TV was still there. His place in Hawkeye tower was equipped with all the things he could need so mostly half of his things were in this place.

“You hungry?” Zoro asked,

“Yeah! Pretty much!” said Jane nodding as she went and threw herself carelessly over couch. Zoro called and ordered food, liquor, ice and water. After that he sighed and went over to sit on chair. He threw his head back and closed his eyes.

‘Why won’t you tell me Je! There is always so much going on around you! You keep everything inside! You still don’t trust me? What do I do? How do I get your trust! How do I make you feel better? Just let me in Jane!’ thought Zoro and sighed in defeat as he kept thinking about the things that had happened today,

For few minutes they relaxed like that in silence, nobody talking anything, nobody looking at each other. He raised his head to talk to her only to notice that Jane was actually asleep on the couch, he picked her up in his arms and took her to the bedroom. It still had his bed, only covered with the plastic covers, he removed the cover with his hand still managing Jane in his arms. Zoro gently put her on bed and went to bathroom to wash his face.

He came out to find Jane wide awake, but still looking tired and rested on bed the way he had left her. She was looking at him, he leaned on the door frame and folded his arms over his chest, he looked in her sad and tired eyes, her face was blank though,

“Jane, why you asked me to keep this place?” asked Zoro,

“Wow! I almost shot you in the chest, like I almost killed you and you are asking why I asked you to keep paying the money for this place.” Jane said looking keenly in his eyes,

“Well! I did say I love you, now didn’t I? So if you would have wanted to shoot me, then I am ready to die by your hand! What’s there to make an issue about?” Zoro said in calm voice.

“Zoro, I am a mess, don’t you see that I am just a curse? You should not be even anywhere near me, I will ruin your life, ruin everything, I am bad Zoro, time will come that I will mess up and you will have to suffer, Just like I ruined Shanks’ …….”  Jane stopped abruptly at the mention of Shanks’ name and closed her eyes,

“My father says ‘Suppressed grief is double edged sword, it hurts anyway, and you have to keep recalling the pain to blunt it!’. Jane I understand you have gone through such a terrible things that its more than a man can handle for a single life time but you have had such a caring people around you too. May be you should start honoring them by sharing! Shanks, Law, Vivi, Mihawk..” Zoro was interrupted by Jane,

“Quiet!” said Jane in low voice, closing her eyes in irritation,

“You can’t keep it in dude, gotta let it out!”

“Quiet!” said Jane furrowing her brows further,

“You think they will hate you if they know what had happened?” Zoro pushed further,

“Shut up!” Jane said in firm voice,

“You think that less of me that you won’t even tell me what is going on in your head?”

“Shut the hell up okay!” now tone of Jane’s voice was angry, But Zoro had decided to make her talk today,

“Why are you so scared eh?” said Zoro getting angry himself,

“Shut the fuck up Zoro!” scolded Jane with slightly raised voice, turning her neck to look at him in the eye,

“May be you should try once more! With real bullets this time!” spat Zoro narrowing his eyes on her,

“Zoro!” yelled Jane on top of her lungs,

“I won’t shut up till you tell me why the hell are you so stubborn to let it out! C’mon Jane, you don’t need to fight alone. Tell people, tell me, start talking; I know how it works, you have to talk about it, I don’t want you to go into panic ever again okay?” Zoro said in worried voice that made Jane sigh in defeat,

“Really Zoro! Trust me, you don’t want to know!” said Jane, she stretched out her arm at him asking him to come nearer, he got off the door frame and went over her, sat on bed and grabbed her hand firmly. She made him lie down next to her, they looked at each other, into each other’s eyes for minutes, she laced her fingers with his and kept their connected hands on her belly and then looked away from his face to look at ceiling.

“You really do love me Zoro! Enough that you took a bullet for me earlier today and then was ready to take a bullet from my own gun” whispered Jane.

“I do. Yes!” whispered Zoro back, still looking at her face, his phone started beeping,

“When was the last time you talked with Sanji?” Jane asked out of the blue, his eyes narrowed on her at the mention of Sanji’s name but he answered her question none the less,

“I guess Last time was, when you helped me move. You remember? He was already here when you came to my place, he asked me where was I moving but I told him that was none of his business, then you came and we went to Richie’s. I noticed you were avoiding me holding your hand in front of him. I wanted to ask you why but let it go. I never saw him after that day, he keeps texting though! Why? I mean what is the significance of that in here, right now? I don’t see it.” Zoro said in clam voice pulling his hand away from her and took out his cellphone which was ringing and vibrating in his pocket. He saw Shanks’ number, he cut the call and texted him something Jane did not see.

“Just asked! How do you feel about him Zoro?” asked Jane in calm voice.

Zoro suddenly moved and within split second he was towering above Jane. His hands on both sides of her head and his knees on both sides of her waist, Jane looked into his deep green sincere eyes, he was looking for her expressions but did not find any. Her eyes were distant,

“What I feel about him definitely is not and it was not anything like what I feel for you. To tell the truth, I thought I was in love with him because I did not know any better Je! I did not know what to feel, I did not know how does it feel when you love someone or feel attracted to someone for that matter. What I can tell is that this feeling....what I feel about you now, I have never felt like this for anybody else. And it’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to return my feelings but don’t ever ask me to try and feel love for Sanji, we are not talking about that again, in fact never again!” Zoro sounded hurt ....too hurt that Jane felt guilty again,

Jane nodded at Zoro. Her eyes told him that she felt guilty asking him what she did but somewhere at the back of her mind she thought that she had to ask, that uneasiness was felt by Zoro,

“Did he say something to you? He did, didn’t he? Jane, he already had confessed his feeling to me. If I wanted to be with him I already could have okay? So, don’t think about it!” said Zoro and doorbell ranged. He got off bed and went to the living room leaving her alone.

\---------------------------

Empty beer bottles, empty takeaway packets, some used tissue papers, plastic spoons, cellphones, tab, tracking devices, car key, keycards, everything was scattered on the table in front of the couch. Jane and Zoro were sitting on couch, rather flumped over it, their tired bodies thrown over the structure, eyes half lidded, their faces sleepy.

Once they started drinking and eating together, they had been chatting and making jokes like nothing had happened,

“You know Zoro when I came in here first, ……….I so much liked this place!” Jane said sliding down and stretching her legs out a bit, Zoro grabbed her legs and put them in his lap, he took her shoes off and she curled her toes,

“You gotta be kidding me! You own like fanciest and most lavish apartments this city has to offer and you liked my messy place!” Zoro snorted as he pressed his thumbs in her fleshy feet, she gave a hum and sigh of relaxation,

“No! No! Seriously! I mean, when I was kid, we had this cute and cozy apartment just like this. I mean it was Shanks’ but I was mostly at his place anyways. I liked it so much, we had a dog too, place was amazing, it was so warm and homely. Just like your place felt when I came here, warm! Man that was so nostalgic!” he took her socks off her feet,

“Gee! Thanks, so that is why you wanted me to keep it!” Zoro said as he massaged her feet.

“Hmm! I want to buy it actually! Talk to the owner, see if he is ready to sell!” ordered Jane,

“Aye Aye Cap’n!”  Zoro said sounding funny, Jane snorted at his voice.

“Wow! You really good with that! I should hire you!” she hummed in satisfaction, her toes and her feet felt relaxing as Zoro worked on ball and arch of her feet,

“I am all yours! Shit! Je, you got legs for Days!” He said in husky voice as he massaged the calf of her legs, started moving his hands on the shin and yet upwards as he praised her legs, he liked when he felt her feeling her relax her legs,

“You seducing me into taking you as my masseur Mr. Zoro Roronoa!” chided Jane,

“You bet I am. I am best at it. Just try it once, you won’t let me go!” teased Zoro working on her legs, she really did feel the muscles in her legs relax,

“Mnnmm! I will think about it!” said Jane closing her eyes, enjoying the massage she had been getting on legs,

“What will you do after we buy this?” asked Zoro looking hungrily at her relaxed form, he wanted to jump on her and kiss her till he was satisfied,

“We will get it decorated of course, may be, will ask John buy some stuff and arrange the whole place like I want to. We will put photos, we will have this old fashioned furniture and music system, I also like those ceiling lamps”

“Yeah and a beautiful piano to add a look and the carpet and the curtains could do good and…”

Jane suddenly recalled Lucci’s apartment, she did not play attention what Zoro continued to speak, she found out that Jane was actually talking about decorating a house together with Zoro, she also saw how interested Zoro sounded, she was stunned at the idea of where this conversation was going, she suddenly pulled her legs out of his grip and sat up,

“What happened? I did anything wrong? Did your feet hurt? It should not hurt but..” he was interrupted by her hurried statement,

“No Zoro! Not that! Change of plan! I don’t want to buy this place, I don’t!” said Jane as she shot up in sitting position abruptly with help of her elbows, Zoro looked at her confused. He moved near her, she backed off a little, but he quickly moved with some speed Jane did not predict and quickly he caught her by the waist pinning her under him,

“Jane, tell me what is bothering you!” Zoro said bending down, his lips mere centimeters away from her, Jane blushed at the sudden closeness,

“Blushing!!! I see!” Zoro said smirking,

Jane closed her eyes to find a force to fight him off and push him away but her body betrayed her like it had become a usual thing now, she found out that she actually liked being pinned down under him. This all was new for her, no getting pinned down, not actually but the way he did it, he was not actually using any force but she found herself helpless. Zoro was advancing and getting bolder day by day, getting more and more intimate to her with each passing day. The way they spend their time together, he knew that he was succeeding in bringing down her walls little by little, he wanted to get rid of her stubborn attitude of not having a relationship with him for real and the way shew thought she was not good enough for him, he hated that thing.

He had her captured but it was not aggressive, there was no more than necessary force on her body, her hands were held by his but not bound like Lucci did to her, her thighs touched Zoro’s, their limbs tangling further in each-others the more she tried to move, his weight on her increased further, the more she tried to get away, distance between their faces kept decreasing the more she refused to talk……………..

Zoro had already been looking for an opportunity to be near her this way since long, he knew she liked it too; but he did want her approval, he wanted her to be as responsive and as wiling as he was,

“Jane, can I kiss you? Do you promise you won’t pass out on me! I so much want to kiss you right now…” Zoro whispered, Jane stopped moving the moment the question was asked, she looked in his face, there was nothing but love and passion. She knew if she would have tried for real, she would have gotten away from him.

She blankly looked at his face; her trammeled position reminded her of Lucci, she for a moment recalled Lucci’s face, the way he used to pin her down and used to have his aggressive way with her, the way Lucci’s hands traced her scars every time he kissed her, Lucci always wanted her to surrender to him, never asked for anything, he just took all he wanted and Jane used to love his domination over her, she used to love what he did to her as she never really had experienced anything like it before, sometimes he used to bite her so hard that she could taste her blood on his lips when he kissed her after biting her, she thought about Lucci’s comeback in the Grand line city, it was as aggressive as he himself was.

Something in her expressions changed at the thought of her Ex being back, her eyes felt detached and unfocused, Zoro noticed her reluctance, he let go of her hands immediately and griped the edges of couch to get off of her.

She felt Zoro withdrawing, she felt him pulling away from her, the missing warmth and weight on her body made her feel the distance between herself and Zoro, she noticed his face was frustrated and defeated, she felt guilty for thinking about Lucci when she was in Zoro’s arms, felt bad for comparing Zoro to Lucci, she did not want to think about Lucci, she did not want to hurt Zoro and she had now understood really well that how much Zoro really loved her.

Before she could decide how to tell Zoro to stay, how to make him look at her, how to apologize to him; her own hands had traveled up to his face. Zoro was shocked at the unexpected touch, he looked at her face with expectant eyes, her eyes were welcoming and filled with apology now, he caught his breath watching her coming closer. Time felt stop for a moment, he felt overwhelmed, he felt loved just by looking at her half lidded eyes and her beautiful plum pink lips,

Next second her lips were on his, his eyes went wide for a moment, his heartbeat elevated as her cotton soft lips were felt against his firmer ones, warm and soft. His hand immediately moved to hold her head from the back and his other hand grabbed her waist, her eyes fluttered closed as he moved his lips on hers to suck on them, he lowered her down on the couch and closed his eyes to get drowned into the kiss.

His hands moved from waist to her back, held her firmly to him, they both slid back on couch while kissing each other. Zoro was on top of her, her hands were caressing his face. He had never felt like it, the way she traced his face with her hands, her fingers moving lovingly on his face as if he actually mattered, she was making him feel loved. One of her hands traveled to back of his head, she pulled him even closer tugging on his hair, he tilted his head and deepened the kiss.

As it was new for Zoro, him getting kissed that lovingly by his dream girl, her palms making soothing touches on his face, touching the skin of his neck, his back, shoulders; this was a whole new experience for Jane. Her hands were never free when she got kissed by Lucci, her hands were always restrained and tied somewhere, she never got to touch Lucci like this, nor did she ever got kissed like this by Lucci. But with Zoro, kiss was different; he took it slowly, sensually. Zoro paid attention to experience every little touch; he gave it good deal of time to feel every little detail. It was not aggressive and wild with Zoro, it was patient, much more intimate and deep that touched her soul.

Jane did not even know when her lips got parted and his tongue slid inside her mouth, she adjusted her neck and opened little more for easy exploration, Zoro immediately groaned in kiss which was eaten by her welcoming mouth. One of his hands went to her hips, he caressed her hip over the fabric of her clothes and slid his hand upwards taking her tucked-in shirt out from the pants earning a series of moans from Jane in response to each touch. Jane slid her hand in his shirt opening up the few buttons with her single hand as one of her hand still was near his jaw line, caressing his handsome features.

She moved the hand to his left ear, her finger touched the cold metal rings, she felt to tug on them but instead she teased the piercings he had on the lobe with her fingers slightly sliding on them, earning a sexy grunt from him. He grasped firmly on her hips in response as he felt overwhelmed as she played with his piercings. Jane was now feeling his erection poking her tummy. His hand now inside her shirt, he neglected the scars on her soft flesh as he moved his hands caressing skin of her abdomen, her skin quivered deliciously under the his fingertips, he got rewarded by sweet deep moans from Jane as his fingers moved on her skin lovely, feeling her intimately.

They now were out of breath, Zoro pulled away, both were panting but she pulled him towards her using the hand on the back of his neck, he smirked breathlessly and attacked her jaw line and her chin with intense kisses, she threw her head back closing her eyes when he started sucking in her neck, he licked and sucked all of her neck, which was now pinkish red all over by the love it had received. He was working on her collar bone and trying to kiss and lick little lower than her shirt permitted, his hand inside her shirt travelled up and dangerously close to her boobs but suddenly Jane stopped his hand snapping him out.

He stopped sucking on the skin over her sternum when he felt her hand gripping his arm and he pulled out, her own face was having expressions of surprise, as if she did not know what made her stop him like that, her hand still having grip on his arm that snapped them out. She suddenly left the grip on Zoro as their eyes met and she lowered her gaze to look away.

“Jane, am I going too fast?” whispered Zoro touching his forehead to hers, she sighed but looked at him apologetically for a moment before looking away again, she took her hand away from his chest,

“Hey!” Zoro said to make her look at him, she mouthed ‘sorry’ and  wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him placing her face in the crook of his neck. He sighed and took his hands out of her shirt and hugged her back closing his eyes. He slumped on her completely, dropping all of his weight over her smaller form.

“You are not going too fast, you are perfect. I am so sorry Zoro, I don’t know what is wrong with me!” Jane whispered feeling defeated.

“It’s okay Je, but for what are you apologizing for, you did it instinctively?” whispered Zoro back,

“No. I am sorry. For everything, the bullet, then what I said back in the bedroom, now I stopped you like this.” Jane answered whispering in soft voice.

“I don’t want to rush you through anything, I already told you that.” Said Zoro calmly kissing in her cheek,

“Zoro, you need to tell Sanji about us, he needs to know that he should not be waiting for you.” said Jane with wary look on her face as she pulled out to look at him,

“I already have Je! You don’t worry about him. He already has the idea, I have told him to stop long back.” Zoro said sincerely as he caressed her face with his fingers, she was leaning into his touches but she nodded at his statements awkwardly.

Zoro moved them so that she was now resting on top of him. He ran his fingers through her hair, his one hand under his own head, her head rested on his chest so that her cheek was on his heart, she looked at the wall, her hands hung freely around his form,

After some silent moments, Jane started talking,

“I was in the Grand line’s international high, one of the most popular and reputed collages in world, I had taken up this odd degree, criminal justice. Not many people were there, let alone the girls. Law was with me since middle school but he left, he wanted to be a surgeon you see. He also studied with me for a year but then moved to [Flevance](http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Flevance), north blue. Vivi was with me but hers was different, political science”

Jane closed her eyes and started talking again,

“There was this guy there. We had two classes together. Rob Lucci. Computer science. Excellent in everything, smart, strong, fast, tall, handsome. He had a fan club larger than the most popular girl in whole place. He literally perused, followed me for a year, next year he kept asking me out, last year he confessed and won my heart.” Zoro kept listening calmly but was caressing her scalp as his fingers combed her short blond hair. He felt her shiver slightly,

“We started seeing each other, dating actually. It all was so new for me; I haven’t really had anybody before, never found anybody that interesting to tell you the truth. He had felt so different. After the degree, he got a job in a software firm. I got into Hawkeye. He was great, a perfect boyfriend; Smart, multitalented, handsome, caring, rich, he owned a penthouse and nice cars. My job was odd, we never got enough time. He tried to see me every day, tried to date every weekend, we did as time permitted, he tried, called twice a day, took care of me, cooked for me, we had good time with each other almost everyday, we danced, eat, had drinks, sex, everything so good, we almost felt like married to each other, nothing to complain.............. except for his possessiveness, he used to get violent to people....... over trivial matters, so possessive over me.”

Zoro’s hand stopped caressing her scalp, he moved her up little by catching her by waist, her head below his chin, he held her firmly wrapping his hands around her shivering body. He knew sharing this was not easy, he did not want her to go into another panic attack, he felt her agitation as she was shivering as she was speaking, her eyes were glassy but she did not cry, her voice was hoarse. Jane gripped on Zoro’s shirt tightly, closed her eyes and started speaking again,

“Everything was so perfect, too perfect to be real. I was so blind and so stupid. Really, I never observed the signs, did not pay any hid to the hints, I guess I never wanted to doubt him, I was in love, thought he was in love.” Zoro almost heard her sob, she stopped and took in a sharp breath, then released it slowly, he felt her go uneasy as if she was fighting hard to keep herself from crying, but he soon felt warm tears wetting his shirt,

“That perfect little life of mine had a sweet little imperfection; my …[sniffle]……my boyfriend was an assassin, a goddamned trained killer undercover…….undercover for six fucking years. My ….[sob]…My love life was nothing but a evil joke, they wanted to give a blow to the Hawkeyes, they must have found out about me, so targeted Mihawk’s only living family member and planted their best agent in my life, in my very college………[sniffle]. It was just a beautiful lie; he was living a perfect lie with me, a double life, for six years…….[sniffle]……… For six years he pretended to love me Zoro, he pretended to take care of me, …[sob]…….he lied to my face every fucking time he said he loved me.”

Jane felt Zoro kissing her head, her shivering body was held by him protectively, he wanted to comfort her but he wanted her to get this out, at least once she needed to take it out, to tell somebody how she felt, share and cry out loud about it, wash away her pain in tears. Shanks knew, but did not knew the details, he never needed to, he took care of her regardless,

“When did you..” Zoro whispered but found her turning her head and stuffing her face in his neck,

“When I was investigating this O’hara case, I was there at village where city of O’hara used to exist, far away from Grand line, when he suddenly stopped calling, stopped responding to my calls, …[Jane sniffled softly]….I was so close to the truth of case or so I thought but he got me real bad, they kept us distracted by planting false info for me to find out. I caught this…[sob]… this lie four months back, right outside _Baratie_.”

“Baratie?” Zoro whispered as he wiped cleaned her face off tears gently with his palm and she spoke again,

“When I dropped you there, I was about to take off. Actually before I met you there at the traffic lights I was on my way to his place, to confront him but I saw his car parked there at _Baratie_ , … [sob] I went in to speak to him but found him with…………with another girl,…..[sigh]… I was about to shoot her I swear Zoro, I had gun on me, but some Blondie blocked my view and snapped me out of it…….[pause]  And you already know that I went over to him to talk……………[sob]  He took me to the garden outside and told me………..told me [sniffle]…… that he was done with me and he had good time with me, and ………..like………like that he ended it like it was nothing, ……[sob]..like ……I meant nothing, really I mean how fucking stupid was I!” said Jane in weak voice,

“That son of a bitch!” cursed Zoro under his breath, gritting his teeth, she went quiet after that, kept sobbing and sniffling. He gave her time to relax,

“Is that why you are so cautious of touches?” whispered Zoro,

“Yeah!” said Jane as she stopped crying after few minutes, he cleaned her face off the tears again, she continued in soft but sad voice,

“I did not believe that he did not love me, could not believe that he just pretended Zoro, I mean we read people in which profession we are, I never felt like he did not love me and just wanted to get into my pants. He was so possessive over me; he had beaten the hell out of almost seven people, it was that bad they almost died taking beating from him, just because they accidently touched me, he would not even bear if somebody touched my hand. He cooked for me almost every time I was there at his place. He knew about the scars, he did not freak out but loved them like they were part of me. Brother despised him, never approved of him; but he never gave up in six years, kept visiting me in spite of death threats he got from brother. But Shanks said that was all part of his act, his cover, so I am finally ready to let it all go But..” Jane stopped at looked at him with frightened eyes,

Zoro’s eyes widened at her frightened face,

“But?” Zoro asked in confused voice, he saw the look in her eyes, he was shocked at the fear she had in them, she gripped the fabric of his shirt, tried to hold on to him as if she was about to fall but he already had his arms around her, he could not understand her fear,

“Today, we were in Rain Dinners, it was him whom ordered than drink for me. He is back in the Grand line. He. …he tried to have a conversation with me Zoro. He said he has comeback for me and I could not do anything but somehow got away with your help, I mean literally felt helpless for a moment, what is use of all my abilities then?” Jane said panic very clear in her voice, he kissed her cheek and shushed her,

“He must have been told to be under cover all that time and act as your boyfriend but he sure as hell was not been ordered to play as your possessive boyfriend. Maybe he fell in love with you for real but did not have balls to choose you over his mission. Now there are two possibilities, either he really has come back for you as he understood he can’t go on without you or he wants to break you again.” Zoro spoke in calm voice, Jane suddenly pulled away from him and looked at him with the freaked out expressions,

“Seriously Zoro? Aren’t you angry at me?” Jane said in frustration,

“What you mean?” Zoro asked in confused voice wrapping his arms around her again,

Jane got up pushing him backwards, she actually sat on him. He got up too, now she was seated in his lap, he put his arms around her waist to keep her in place,

“Jane, why should be I angry with you?” asked Zoro with a genuine questioning gaze,

“I almost shot you in heart! I said mean things to you! First, I was confused but then I kissed you, then again stopped you from touching me though I initiated the kiss. I told you about my Ex, also that now he has come back and I could not even yell at him. Now I am seeking answers for what my Ex could be here for, I am asking an opinion of a guy who is currently in love with me and that……… this all must be crushing your heart, God! Why aren’t you just angry at me?” Jane summed up all quickly with too much anger and panic in her voice, her eyes were unstable, her face was troubled, she was avoiding looking into Zoro’s calm eyes as if she was ashamed of herself, she had this scared look on her face, her voice was shaky.

Zoro suddenly grabbed her chin and pulled Jane into a passionate kiss, she resisted again he kept kissing her until her eyes left that dreadful expression of unknown fear, her eyes fluttered closed and after some minutes when he felt her go relaxed in his embrace again he pulled out. This kiss was even lovelier than the earlier one, her eyes were half lidded again, the expressions on face were soft and tired but not sad,

“I am not angry, how can I be? I know you are mine. I am not losing you to that bastard. And even if we think it as a possibility that he loved you for real, he didn’t have balls to admit it, and he did hurt you and left you alone. Look Je, it did not work with Lucci because it was never supposed to. Because THIS..” Zoro gestured both of them, pointing his finger to her and then directing the same at him,

 “..Because THIS, you and me, this is supposed to work! I know it is! So, that’s that. And rest all is up to you! I can’t stop loving you no matter what, so there is nothing else for me to do or to think even if you decide to throw me out of your life.” Zoro said shrugging,

“You are insane! Seriously, of all the people, what good I have done to have you in my life, deserve such a guy!” Jane said hiding her flushed red face in her own hands,

“Wow! I just received the greatest compliment of my life and you are not even looking at me! I deserve to have a look at your blush, I mean it’s for me right! C’mon!” Zoro said trying to take her hands off her face so that he would able to see her blush,

“Oi, Je, you know what! let’s go back to your dad, he is really freaking out. You need to talk to him okay! He is been calling and calling!” Zoro said trying to take her hands off gently,

“No, I said mean things to him too! He must be mad at me! I am such an ass!” yelled Jane but her voice came muffled, Zoro smirked and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, his hands travelling to her bottom from her waist,

“He is not mad at you, he is going mad because you. And that ass! God! You really have a nice ass, I mean I am totally in love with it, ever since the first time I checked you out, ….that Augsta, you concealed within those big cloths, that gray Jacket, Black helmet! Bent over bike like that, Man, I was thrown off! Since that day, sort of this Frenzy began, I can't get you out of my head! One look at your ass got me mad about you! For the whole drive, it was you and only you I could think off” Zoro said in husky voice as. Her blush deepened at his statement, even her ears got reddish and she gasped when she felt his hands on her bottom, she finally took her hands off her face to stop Zoro’s advances.

Zoro smirked at her and captured her lips again, he kissed her senseless while he slipped his hand inside he pants, enjoyed caressing and massaging the soft mass of her ass as he felt her delicious bottom under the fabric of her pants earning sweet moans from her as her soft bottom was getting groped lovingly. He pulled out from kiss after he was breathless, he looked at her panting frame and pulled his hand out from her pants and rested on small of her back from inside her shirt,

“I wanted to do that since ages. I mean really!” confessed Zoro. Jane looked away blushing, Zoro smirked at her,

“I wanted to touch your piercings, they look hot! I really liked them when I first saw you, Umm.. It was when….when you guys came to pick me up, that day when you were with smoker!” said Jane reciprocating his feelings, but she could not word the way Zoro worded his feeling when he saw her first and experienced attraction towards her. She remembered him from that day, he had caught her eyes that day,

“Really, you noticed me on that day?” Zoro said and sighed, giving her fake hurt face which she chuckled softly at.

“Umm, Zoro! He…….he called you? Shanks?” asked Jane uneasily, 

 “Yeah! Many times. Poor Shanks! You really can stir him up that bad hun? He sounded so frustrated, I thought I was going to get real hard time from him but he was worried about you said he needed me to find my boss!” Zoro said tracing her lips with his finger,

“Really. I told you, I ruined his….” Said Jane  but she was not looking at him,

“Hey! Don’t start that! Enough cussing yourself for today! You only told me to keep it at bay remember? You gave me two hours that day on beach, so I say I have given you enough time and even the kisses as bonus, now stop mopping. Lets go and plan to kick some asses tomorrow!” said Zoro trying to scold her, she snorted finally coming back to herself,

“Yeah!” sighed Jane dropping her shoulders and closed her eyes. She got a quick peck on lips from Zoro and she got pulled up, he was soon carrying her in his arms, they went to the bathroom,

“Fix your clothes, your face and clean up those tear stains; we are not going home with you looking like that! I will clean up the mess in the Living, okay?” Zoro said as he put her down in front of the open door of bathroom and quickly kissed her again. She mock saluted him after he pulled out and went inside, he shook his head at her and went to living room.

\--------------  

**_In Hawkeye tower, elevator number 2_ **

Jane and Zoro were in elevator going up for Shanks’. Zoro had a sweatshirt tucked in his hands, they were chatting and discussing about the freaked out guards when Jane was about to shoot Zoro,

“Jane, you should put this on!” said Zoro handing Jane his black neck on sweat shirt,

“Why?” asked Jane but took it from his hands none the less, he put an arm around her waist and turned them to look at the glass wall. There was their a reflection, so perfect against the contrast of the dark sky outside, he pointed to her neck; there were numerous marks on her neck, some half way visible over the collar disappearing under her shirt, she unbuttoned her shirt for two upper buttons to check out her chest, there were marks all over till her collar bones, few even below that.

“Holy shit! Really? I mean one or two is different thing but this is like a frigging painting! Mihawk is gonna put you in a cell if he finds out you know!” Jane chided snorting. This was definitely Zoro’s time to blush, he looked away from her reflection and his marks on Jane’s skin and she immediately put on the sweatshirt.

“Didn’t you take a look at that while you were washing your face?”

“Nah! I avoid mirrors you see! I am too ugly for them to reflect my true self” replied Jane casually,

“Idiot! Stop saying that!” scolded Zoro,

He adjusted the neck of sweat shirt on Jane’s form a little so as to hide maximum of them as they made their way out of the elevator, there was a mark on her jaw line too, also skin on back of her ear, even on her arms, the red marks stark in contrast against her pale, milky white skin was too much easy to notice,

“Seriously Zoro, I cannot hide these many marks, it too easy to note them! Why have I to hide them anyway? It’s just Shanks” Jane asked as they pressed a button on panel outside Shanks’ apartment,

“It’s your call captain. Well, I am off now! Handle your daddy on your own! Best of luck!” said Zoro quickly and tried to scoot away but Jane caught his arm,

“Don’t you run off! What happened tiger, you got transformed into a kitty?” Jane teased as she tapped his chin with her fingers.

“Myaav! Myaav! Now let go Jane!” chided Zoro whispering but door got opened and Shanks spotted them goofing around. Jane had her back facing Shanks and Jane had her hand on Zoro’s wrist, Zoro was trying to get away.  They stopped their antics suddenly as they felt pair of eyes on them.

Zoro cleared his throat and stood near Jane moving her to turn back to face Shanks, she took her hand off him and looked away from Shanks’ face,

“Sir, good evening!” Zoro said in curt voice when he felt Shanks look at Jane keenly,

“Good evening lieutenant Zoro! Thanks for bringing her home.” Said Shanks as he nodded at Zoro and again looked at his daughter, Jane was looking down now, her eyelids down, her face straight, void of any emotion. She had her eyeballs fixed in Zoro’s direction as if to find comfort in his presence,

“Sir, I should be off. Good nig..” Zoro said but got interrupted by Shanks when he noted Jane’s eyebrow move slightly at his comment.

“Nonsense! …….Zoro, come in!” said Shanks. Jane’s eye moved a little.

“Sir?” Zoro said in disbelief,

“You heard me!” said Shanks and went inside. Jane stood frozen on the door step, she closed her eyes and gave a sigh of frustration,

“Jane? Go in! Go talk to him.” whispered Zoro as he put his hand on small of her back and made her walk in. They awkwardly made it inside the living room.

Jane was so familiar with the place she could have walked in blindfolded and not have broken a sweat to make it to wherever she wanted to go. Zoro was shocked by the ambiance inside. So high-tech and specious. Even modern version of the Jane’s room he had seen in Rosolt island. Shanks was pouring drinks for two by the time Zoro noticed him seated at the bar inside the place. Shanks offered Zoro a drink and motioned him to sit down. Jane walked to the kitchen without so much as glancing at Shanks.

Zoro sat on the barstool uncomfortably, trying not to eye anything in there, he looked down at his drink, a glass with two ice cubes and brown liquid glittering with the decent, warm and expensive decorative lights the place had. He swallowed thickly before taking a seep, it was amazing and strong, Zoro could not help but give a spontaneous hum of approval,

“You liked it! It’s from a village in the east blue.” Said Shanks smiling,

“Yes sir, it’s so good!” said Zoro, ‘He sounds so different here!’ though Zoro,

“You have got good taste Zoro!” admired Shanks,

“I am from east blue myself!” said Zoro awkwardly and took another gulp, Shanks nodded at him before he spoke,

“I know that. Jane speaks very highly of you; I am very pleased to meet you unofficially at last.” Shanks said in calm voice,

“Thank you. It’s my pleasure to meet you in person, sir.” Said Zoro slightly nodding,

“I take it, she has passed off the O’hara case to you, along with her research.” Said Shanks.

Zoro was confused, she had not done anything like this yet but he knew almost everybody asked her to abandon the case or hand it over to somebody else, she also had got instructions from Mihawk the other day.

“Umm yes, she has handed me over the case. But I am yet to start with it! I will soon.”

“Very good! I am counting on you.” said Shanks. Jane came out and sat near Zoro as she had a tablet in her hands and showed Zoro something, he nodded at her quickly before stealing a glance at Shanks and seeping his drink.  

After some awkward talk and another drink, Zoro bid good bye to both of them, while he went away, he looked at Jane with love in his eyes as he gave her a smile which was returned by her with equal love.

After Zoro went home, Jane turned on her heels and ran to the couch in the living room. Shanks sighed and followed her calmly. When he reached he found the her carelessly thrown over frame on the couch in diagonal position with one of her legs hanging down to the floor, her face down rested on seat, sweatshirt still on, her eyes open to look outside the glass walls, her hands gripping the sweatshirt,

“Jane, you are not going to talk to me at all?” said Shanks as he sat near her and moved his fingers through her hair,

“I am sorry dad but I don’t know what to say. I promise I would try not to be much of a disappointment from now on.” Said Jane in low but firm voice,

Shanks gave a frustrated sigh and continued caressing her head, after few moments she suddenly shot up in sitting position and took his hand in hers, made him walk to the kitchen with her. She took out two plates, served dinner for two with one plate less filled, she warmed the food on the plates in the microwave oven and placed on the table. They had dinner in silence.

She made him eat with her, she already had food with Zoro so could not eat much but she already had checked that after she left Shanks did not have any dinner, she had come an check it specifically while Shanks had his little talk with Zoro and after the dinner she cleaned the plates. He let her work as he sat there looking at her in silence, thinking how to make it right, how to make it up to her. She put rest of the food in the fridge. She took him by hand and they made their way to the bedroom. She was too silent, not talking nor humming any song as she usually do, not asking Shanks to talk to her, not asking him if she could skip brushing her teeth for today just to piss him off, not convincing him to talk her to sleep instead of reading his book.

She carelessly took of her shoes outside the bedroom, then started taking off her clothes as she went inside the room which she has been staying in with him since month or two. She threw her glows on ground along with her belt as she took her clothes out one by one while she made her way to wardrobe. Her pants and boxer were sprawled on floor, she had the wardrobe open and she took out her shorts and t-shirt that she liked to wear at home, dropped them on bed. When Shanks made it inside after putting aside her shoes in their proper place, he noticed her clothes on the floor like the spoilt kid she was. He also spotted her thinking and standing in her Sweatshirt, it covered her up to her ass, she stood there thinking about something Shanks did not know with no bottoms on.

She looked back at the wardrobe wanting to take off her remaining clothes but stopped suddenly when she started pulling off the sweatshirt above her head, she did not take off that sweatshirt but ran to bathroom. Shanks made a confused face seeing her behaving like that, he was changing into his shorts while he noticed Jane running off to bathroom, he raised an eyebrow at thought of her hanging on to that black sweatshirt which was not even hers.

He smiled slightly as he collected her clothes scattered on floor and went to bathroom himself. He put both of their clothes in the washing machine and went over to Jane, she was washing her face and mouth, almost done with brushing her teeth.

When she was done, he went closer to her, stood behind her so as to observe her form in the mirror and he looked at her face; he had been wondering about that mark on her Jaw line, it was definitely mark of love, an intense kissing activity.

He made her turn to face him, Jane let him do his inspection as she closed her eyes, she knew this was coming sooner or later, she could not have hidden anything from Shanks for long anyways. He looked closely at the mark as he held her chin in his hand while making her head tilt to look up and then pulled on the neckline of the sweatshirt to find another mark, then another.

Jane sighed and took off the sweat shirt all together to reveal all of her neck and nearby area colored pinkish red with Zoro’s possessive artwork. She was looking away, cheeks flushed red, ears pink due to blush at the thought of Shanks looking at the marks Zoro had put on her while they kissed, the memories were making her blush. Shanks was smiling at her blushing face, he took the sweatshirt from her hand and ruffled her hair before he started unbuttoning her shirt.

“Zoro?” asked Shanks, Jane removed his hands from her shirt and started unbuttoning faster, she took off her shirt and put it in his hands,

“Yeah! It does not hurt, so don’t worry!” Jane said still flushed face at thought of Zoro’s kisses and walked away from him. Shanks snorted and went to put the shirt in washing machine too after handing her over her bathrobe. Jane removed the bra and her chest straps, let it drop on the floor and ran to take a shower but she left her bathrobe on stool in hurry to get into the shower so as avoid further remarks on Zoro by Shanks,

When she was done and water stopped running, Shanks offered her bathrobe, she wrapped it around, he walked to the wash basin while he taunted,

“So many Love bites!” Shanks chided as he started brushing his teeth, she decided to keep mum while she messily patched up her recent wounds and some old aching scars, she avoided talking so that she wouldn’t feed him more things to tease herself with, only sound in bathroom was what Shanks was making while brushing his teeth and what came from the washing machine, when he was done he smirked before talking again,

“Love bites don’t hurt, I know!” said Shanks teasing her, she blushed again,

“No, not like that…..Shut up you pervert!” Said Jane quickly trying to get away from him,

“What is it? Did I say anything wrong?” Shanks’ amused tone made her eyebrow twitch, she knew Shanks was enjoying teasing her, he gave her towel to dry her hair, but she sighed and dropped her shoulders looking away from him.

“I mean these are not really bite marks or wherever! I don’t know if they are called like that only. I mean they are but it’s different. More like kiss marks. He does not bite, Lucci did that a lot, used lot of teeth even draw out blood, but Zoro, no teeth at all, no force, I don’t know how he does that.” Said Jane finished quickly explaining what she meant, sounding very awkward. He went over her with towel in his hands,

“Interesting! So that intense already hun?” Shanks said as he worked with her water drenched hair,

“Don’t make me talk private stuff old man!” said Jane with narrowed eyes, her voice came muffled.

“Oh! I thought nothing was private between us!” mocked Shanks, she let him dry her hair for few more minutes then she snatched the towel and tossed it on his smirking face and ran to the bed.

When Shanks came to bed Jane was already under covers, room was dim lit, his night lamp was on and his book was already kept near his pillow exactly the way he liked. He looked at Jane’s back, which faced him, he climbed on the bed and got into the blanket. He rested his back and head against the headboard and pillows, he pulled Jane closer to him as he took his book and started reading while he caressed her head, after some time Jane turned on her side and put her arms around his waist and nosed into his side stuffing her face in his t-shirt. He made soothing movements on her back to put her to sleep,

After half hour, he sensed her stir a little and he noticed her uneven breathing even after it was way past the time she should have been asleep being held by him like that,

“Baby? You still awake?” whispered Shanks looking at her head stuffed in his t-shirt from his side, her nose touching his lower rib,

“Um-hmm!” replied Jane and pulled out from him to look at him, he put his book away and hauled her up to his chest and spoke in sincere voice,

“Jane, back then, I did not mean it to sound like that. I know it must have had felt bad but I really did not mean to say such awful and mean thing to you sweetheart. I just don’t want you to suffer any more. Not physically neither emotionally that is why i wanted you to start sharing and talking to me or any other person you would like. Do you think that I would ever think of you as a disappointment?” Shanks voice was sad as he caressed her face. Jane lowered her gaze, looking away as she felt unsure for her behavior,

“No you don’t, but brother does. I know, that is what you guys fought over. That is why you guys are distant! All we both have ever done is to hurt you, I hate him for hurting you but I am no different than him. Dad, I don’t want you to suffer either. I never thought that my panic attacks can drive wedge between you two like that! I have hurt you Shanks!” whispered Jane with wary look on her face. Shanks put finger under her chin, made her face his gaze, her eyes were uneasy and distant,

“You have loved me equally; I could have never got to experience this love that I feel for you. I would never have had a daughter in my life, if not for you. I am a homosexual! How am no supposed to have children but I have you. So don’t say that okay, you could never hurt me baby, you loved me since I found you that day, all curled up in ball in under that tree, hidden in those bushes. I was so dammed scared for your life, I picked you up and tucked you in my shirt, there was so much blood I thought I could not save you, you were this small, you slept perfectly in my lap, you remember? You loved me since the time you smiled at me when I cleaned your wounds and covered you up in the bandages. You really had me wondering, how in the world a child that horribly beaten up can even smile with that kind of wounds on her body. And then you smiled again, when fed you for the first time, and I know that meant a lot, for you and for me too.” Said Shanks softly,

“I remember; how could I ever forget? Your hands had felt so warm and soothing. I never wanted anybody to touch my wounds, ever! But your hands felt so good, I felt that I was safe for first time in my life. I really felt full when you fed me, I was hungry for three days, I did not feel my legs and my hands were numb from wounds and I wa…….” Jane said leaning into his touch, almost getting ready for crying again, he shushed her.

“Shssh! Don’t recall the bad things. Mihawk and me did not fight over your panic attacks, it just was a silly small thing he found as mere chance to start a fight with me! Look, I am sorry for making you leave angry and panicked. I really did not want to say that to you. You really took it in wrong way. Honey please, you don’t ever do that to me! You will not leave me like that okay?” Shanks said sounding authoritive. She smiled at him slightly and nodded,

“Yes, that was painful to me too. Shanks, I am sorry that I said mean things to you.” whispered Jane and snuggled close to him.

“Love you too baby. Sleep now, you should have been asleep by now, come!” said Shanks, made her rest on bed comfortably so that she would sleep the way she always did while near him, one of her hands around his waist and her head on his stomach, he kept caressing her head, combing fingers through her hair to make her feel calm, while he read from his book.

Within ten minutes Jane was sound asleep, her breathing was even and eyes calmly closed, face was relaxed, her grip over his clothes was loose. Shanks saw her sleeping calmly and gave a sad sigh before he put the book away. His expressions went angry again, angry at his lover, angry at the situation Jane had been put through because Mihawk had screwed up, Shanks did not want to talk to him or fight with him while in her presence. Shanks had specifically told him not to show his face to him again, especially not when Jane was around him.

 

 


	16. The First Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane and Zoro have their first fight!  
> Zoro makes another move after they solve the matter!
> 
> Lucci tries to talk to Jane again! Make her to listen to him again!

 

Jane was walking to her office while she talked to her assistant, her friend, her legal adviser, John; who was right behind her, as usual, giving her updates like she always wanted. Jane wore a blue suit today, she looked really beautiful, her injuries she had got from the explosion at the Rosolt islands were all almost healed and she was in good health as Ben and Shanks were helping her work out and train her well to get her former flame back.

“John, is my place been cleaned up yet? I am thinking about moving tomorrow! I haven’t yet told Shanks but I think it’s time now, I am staying at his since I came back from Rosolt lands!” said Jane as John gave her coffee,

“I don’t think he is going to take that well.” Said John chuckling a little,

“Yeah, tell me about it, he is such a mom over me! Anyways, he has got his own life too, I should not be placing limitations on his options. Make sure my place is ready by tomorrow!” Jane said as she shook her head at John’s chuckling, she knew that Shanks would want her to stay at his, he always said there was no need for separate place for her to live in, but she wanted Shanks to talk to Mihawk and get over with their fight once and for all,

“Absolutely, I will Ma’am! It would be ready tomorrow exactly the way you want it!”

“That is why I like you and Jason, you two get me just fine, just few words are enough. How is Jason doing? I did not get to talk to him in a while.” Jane inquired,

“He is fine now, I mean physically he has recovered from the injuries and all. Emotionally, he still hasn’t gotten over with that explosion yet, he is always been so soft and naive. You mean a lot to him Jane, more than anybody else, he thinks it all is his fault that you had to go through all that and you know how he gets!” John complained,

“That Idiot! How can it be his fault?” said Jane sounding worried,

“Oh! He thinks if he had reported the first panic attack he would have helped stop all the things happened after that.”

“He is wrong and Shanks knew it, just Mihawk did not! Marco is doing great helping him recover!” Jane praised, smiling at the thought.

“I guess so. I don’t like the guy specifically but he is good for Jason, I guess.” Came John’s reply, he was shrugging while he talked as if he did not want Marco to come back to Jason,

“You don’t like Marco, I know. Nobody likes their sibling’s boyfriends. Trust me John, he is the right one for Jason” Jane said as she opened the door of her office and John went to sit at his cubicle, right outside her office,

“The hell? Zoro?” exclaimed Jane, John looked at her and made amusing face before going back to his work,

Zoro was asleep on the Sofa in Jane’s office, his shirt was all wrinkled up, all files and papers were scattered on the table top, some were put on the floor, laptop was open, his coat was laying on the couch; half of Zoro’s face was covered with a paper, he had a file in his hand as he slept in an awkward position. Jane went to him, chuckled at his messy sleeping frame and gently shook him awake,

“Look at you! Zoro! C’mon big guy! Wake up!” exclaimed Jane, he grunted as he changed position to get comfy on the sofa, then it sunk into his brains that it was Jane and she was waking him up, he cracked open his left eye, his scowl deepening a bit,

“Good morning sunshine!” Jane said chuckling as she helped him up and ruffled his short green hair amusingly,

“Jane?” Zoro said blinking his eyes, he tried to avoid the yawn and getting in sitting position,

“Why are you in love with the very office that I hate so much? Zoro, you trying to make me look bad here buddy, loving this office over your beautiful apartment?” teased Jane and she went to sit at her desk. Jane looked strikingly hot in that blue suit and he could not help but stare at her,

“No morning kiss?” Zoro mocked smirking as he eyed her,

“I don’t remember you marrying me!” chided Jane as she read her newspaper and seeped her coffee,

“Wasn’t yesterday our fourth anniversary darling?” Joked Zoro sleepily,

“Wow! You still dreaming, handsome??” mocked Jane back,

“We would be married in the dream??”

“Sure!” said Jane smirking as she enjoyed her coffee,

Zoro smiled at her answer, stood up, stretched his hands and his body to overcome the sourness in his muscles, Jane stole a glance at him which went unnoticed by him as he fixed his clothes, curling her lower lip a little shyly she looked away from her handsome lover. He put the files away and arranged them properly and struggled with gathering some other papers that were scattered all over the floor, he took all he wanted and went to sit in the chair opposite to Jane’s so as to sit in front of her. He started talking and putting the papers on the table for Jane to see as he talked,

“Well, I have reports ready for all the five cases you told me about yesterday. Plus, I have gone through the Winfield’s files and found his cousin that had forged the evidences; his lawyer also was involved in the case as he himself advised him to bury the evidence. Yesterday, I found the lawsuit they had filed, Smoker and I had owned a favor to ask of a judge in the night court so I managed to pull that off. Mrs. Hansen was right, that Ricky boy is rotting in prison for half of his adulthood for crime that he may not even have been a part of, so that case, we can have it  reopened with this paper as you said so I have paperwork ready for that, we can ask GLPD to release him, we will have him in here. In Mr. Jennings case, I found that the car they used, I mean the plate you had asked for….” Zoro’s talk was interrupted by Jane as she put her hand on his,  he looked up from the papers, Jane was looking right back at him.

“Zoro, you are great, you are awesome, but I will look at all of this and we will discuss it after you take a proper breakfast and a bath, okay? It seems like you have been up all night. Go, get a nice long bath and you need a change of clothes, come back and we will have nice breakfast and we will start the day! Okay?” said Jane smiling at him,

Zoro sighed and nodded, he got up and was about to turn and leave but he looked at Jane who was reading from the papers Zoro had given to her to look at, Zoro cleared his throat to grab her attention and Jane looked up at him, he averted her gaze as he fixed his tie,

“Are you pissed that I was in your office all night?” asked Zoro in little uneasy voice,

“What? No, you idiot! I gave you my keycard to access my office, I trust you man! Now shoo!” said Jane and shooed him with her hands, he chuckled and left her office.

After Zoro left Jane asked John to come in; John went in, knowing what she was about to ask as good he was reading Jane’s face, he just needed a look at her before doing what she wanted, he was even better than Jason, 

“Jane, he does that every single day! It’s nothing unusual besides the fact he did not wake up and come to work out with you today morning!” said John acknowledging the questions in her mind after looking at her face even before she asked anything of him,

“John, what’s up with him? You looked into what I had asked for?” asked Jane, he nodded and spoke in a firm tone,

“Jane, he doesn’t seem to like the apartment. Even after you two hang out and you go to Shanks’, he comes down in here, works his ass off, he seemed to be comfortable in here more than his own apartment. When you two were out yesterday, I sneaked into his place, his things are still packed in the boxes, I went through them except for some documents which I thought were a little personal, some family stuff and photos.”

“John Why the he…” spat Jane angrily but John continued,

“Jane, he barely owns anything. I found his pay cheques that are given to him for his work in Hawkeye are laying on his desk in living. I think he feels uncomfortable in there. I mean, apartment is empty, barely used, only filled with what we already provide with apartment itself, which also seemed untouched except for the air-conditioner and washing machine. The guy is orthodox and traditional; I guess the apartment is too modern and big for him.”

Jane sighed and closed her eyes at the report she got from him, she massaged her temple after she threw the newspaper on the desk in frustration and kept her coffee mug on table,

“I did not tell you to sneak into his place, you Idiot! You are really going to get caught one day, I won’t back you up, you understand that? You are not to judge the way he lives or thinks. I wanted a report not an opinion. Look John, we don’t do such things to our own. John, Zoro is family now. Anyways, report on Finances? Anybody bothering him? Anything I can help him with? Banks?” Jane asked, she did not want to have Zoro investigated but she had no other option, Roo and Shanks won’t share when she asked about his financial status,

“Nope, nothing other than the Hawkeye pay cheques, bank account has 5733 berries, he sends a good amount of money, precisely one third of what he earns, to this person named Koshiro, I guess his father; back in the east blue county, at his home town; one third goes to Nefertari bank as an installment to repay his debt, one third is used for the essentials. No other expenses, no other purchases, no savings and no playing in stock market, no other properties, no house of his own either! He owns a bike and three precious _Katanas_ worth millions, the _Wado Ichimonji, Sandai Kitetsu, Yubashiri._ But that is all he has. No other relatives and friends in Grand line that we did not already know of, no previous lovers or secret admirers, no involvement in crime or perjury. He is clean.” Said John as he completed his report.  

Jane sighed,

“My God, John! I just wanted to know about his financial conditions, who told you to have him investigated like that?” scolded Jane with irritated and angry voice,

“I did it myself, nobody is going to find out. And I did not explicitly search for his past, it just came up.” John said trying to explain his situation,

“It’s still looks bad, I mean it looks like I don’t trust him, my own team mate, my friend, my” Jane said as she read the papers put on her desk but he interrupted her,

“Your lover!” said John teasingly,

“John?” scolded Jane narrowing her eyes on him,

“Okay! What you want me to do? How do I fix this?” asked John getting excited,

“Look, just fix it, don’t put him in an awkward position okay, he is important.  I want everything to be legitimate, no laws should be broken, I don’t want him to suffer from any moral losses, he is a very honest man, keep that in mind. Do whatever you like but it should be ethical.” Said Jane,

“Well, I personally think you should talk to him about it, lend him some money yourself, go shopping with him, buy decent things and help him put his place together.” Said John looking thoughtful as he scratched the back of his head. Jane narrowed her eyes on him,

“First; I don’t have time for that and that is why you are here at my disposal. Second, I never go shopping, not even for my underwear. Third; I don’t know how to put the place together. You, of all people should know how bad I am at those things, you arranged everything back at my apartment, it has never been rearranged since. So you get the picture now, scoot! Do what you are supposed to!” Jane said as she dismissed him.

“Of all the people, at least I didn’t need that ‘not even my underwear’ speech Jane! I mean C’mon! Who knows any better?” John exclaimed more to himself as he was walking out of her office,

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Zoro and Jane were in her car along with Kamakiri and Wiper, they all were returning to office after successful mission they carried out, they had found the suspect alive and they had skillfully arrested the culprit before he could end up carrying out his evil plans; her team was doing great, Jane was satisfied with their performance. The car pulled into the premises, into the parking of Hawkeye tower, they had a good but a tiresome day. They all went to office to collect their things before retiring for the day. Jane met Kid on her way up the office, she stopped to talk to him as she gestured her team to leave her alone.

\---------

When Jane made it to the floor, they all had their things packed except for Zoro,

“This is it captain, I am off for the day!” said Kamakiri as he gave Jane his report for the day,

“Yup, you are free to go Kiri, good work!! Kiri, you are up to date eh!! I like that!” said Jane signing on his report, Laky made her way to Jane for the same, Jane smiled at her and checked her report too, she nodded at the neatly done work.

“Good work today Laky!”

“Thanks Captain!” said Laky and smiled,

“I am gonna do that tomorrow!” said Wiper, Jane was signing on laky’s report. Laky was sincere and clever.

“First thing in the morning Lazy-ass! Because I won’t accept any late reports nor will I sign them.” Jane said as she put her hands in her pockets as she stopped at Wiper’s cubicle, his desk never remained clean, Kamakiri’s was on other hand was always so clean and arranged, she chuckled at Wipers things scattered all over desk which Kiri was trying to arrange neatly. Wiper was brave, fast and sharp but he was not good at these things, he was hot headed brute but he was damn good with guns and bikes, when it came to hand to hand combat, wiper was better than anybody else in her team, even Zoro was not as fast as Wiper.

“Yes Ma’am!” wiper said as he sneaked arm around Kamakiri’s waist, it seemed that he had a thing for Kiri, always tried to be near him but Kiri was reluctant,

“Loosen up capt’n! C’mon we are going to have some drinks, I am buying, come with us, hang out! I know you prefer Zoro but we are not a bad company!” Wiper said teasing her, Zoro gave him a glare and before Jane could reply,

“Mind your own business ‘Wipe’!” spat Zoro deliberately using his nickname which Wiper himself hated so much, Wiper’s eyebrow twitched at the use of his nickname like that but Jane spoke to stop them start fight there,

“Thanks Wiper but no thanks, I like Zoro better, you get tipsy with three beers and I will have to drag your ass back home and I am not inclined to do that! Anyways I think you should convince Kiri not me!” chided Jane and snorted at Kiri’s blush as she made her way to her own office,

\---------------

By the time Zoro completed all the tasks he wanted to do, the floor was empty, Zoro stood up, sighed tiredly and went to Jane’s office, he already knew the unlocking code, also he had Jane’s keycard so he never needed to ask Jane, he went inside without even knocking. Not that Jane ever objected, in fact she has gotten used to the intimacy he offered her lately. It’s been good deal of time they spent with  each other, they were getting closer, he was quite successful in bringing most of her walls down as he got her to open up to him.

Zoro saw Jane reading something off the screen of her cellphone, she had a scowl on her face and she was pinching the bridge of nose as if she was angry,

“What’s with that face? You are not pissed, are you?” asked Zoro as he placed his report on the desk,

“Naah! It’s just some asshole!” said Jane as she put the device down but her face still held that expression of anger and slight fear that reminded Zoro of Lucci,

“C’mon! Tell me, what is it? I can tell that something is bothering you? May be it’s the texts you are getting! Is it about that O’hara case again?” asked Zoro as he went over to her, stood behind her and massaged her shoulders, Jane have a hum of satisfaction as her muscles felt relaxed, she left the cellphone on desk and leaned back into the chair,

“Hmmmmmm!” Jane responded to Zoro’s fingers pressing in her stiff shoulders,

“Your shoulders are knotty!” snorted Zoro as he used that word like that which sounded like ‘naughty’,

“Damn! You are good at this!” she whispered, closing her eyes she threw her head back, Zoro fought back an urge to kiss her neck as he smiled slightly at her statement, he was awarded with her relaxed face as he worked on her shoulders,

“Is it about Lucci?” asked Zoro in uneasy voice, he felt her flinch a little, her eyebrows furrowed again,

“My bad!” whispered Zoro,

“No, you guessed right! It is him! He is texting. Don’t know how he got this number! Now that He is back in the Grand line I think we should start working on that fucking pain in ass O’hara case. My instincts tell me he is back for that girl again. She is so dammed good at hiding; I don’t know how she managed to hide for such a long duration?” Jane said irritably and sighed, she took his hands in her own as she looked up at him, he bent down to get near her and planted a kiss on her forehead,

“Let us start then, ne? We have some free time for change, no new cases as of now, we can start right away!” Zoro said caressing her face with his thumbs moving on her cheeks,

“No, you haven’t had any sleep lately and you come here every night. You are working more than you are required to, you will go and take some rest and that, Mr. Roronoa Zoro, is an order and I will know if you are not there at your place!” said Jane in firm voice,

“Would you like to honor me with your company for dinner?” whispered Zoro with his lips against her temple,    

“Wow! Are you asking me out on a date Zoro?” asked Jane smirking at him, Zoro nodded sincerely, her smirk lessened and her face flushed cutely. Zoro smiled slightly at her flushed face, his fingers now caressed her neck. She curled her lower lip inside her mouth by pressing her teeth on the soft pink mass and closed her eyes leaning into his touch,

“I am moving back to my place tomorrow, from Shanks’, so I was thinking of telling him about it! May be he will freak out! I need talk with him! So, I think, I will come over at your place after I am done with him scolding me!” Jane said softly, Zoro’s caressing fingers stopped at her collar bone and his eyes slightly widened,

“My place?” asked Zoro a little rattled, that exclamation made Jane open her eyes to look at his face, he regained his composure,

“Why? Can’t I come?” asked Jane softly with voice laced with slight amusement, Zoro’s cheeks pinked at the thought of Jane coming over late night at his place, but he had other things he had to worry about too, like his empty apartment and his unpacked unarranged things still locked inside the boxes for months,  

“Of course you can, but my place is kind of messed up, I mean I ..” the awkwardness was clear in his voice.

“Hey! it’s okay! I will help ya to clear up the mess!” Jane said smiling at him,

“O--Okay! So food and beer?” said Zoro as he thought of going home and at least arrange his things properly.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Jane left Zoro cleared Jane’s desk off his papers, he locked her office and walked to his own desk,

‘I am going to have Jane coming over, maybe I should do it right! What should I do? I haven’t done it before. Going out on dinner is one thing but she is going to come over! I am out of my depth here? Fuck! Should I ask Law? I need to unpack my things! Fuck! I need to order some good food and some good beer too! May be should go and see Ace, buy some food and Sake bottles on the way home, I will give Nami the cheques and settle some of my debt! All in one trip downtown! Okay, I should get a cab!” Zoro thought as he made his way to the elevator after he put the files in a stack in the shelf near his cubicle.

He checked his watch, he thought that he had an hour or two before Jane would visit him. he texted Nami asking to meet him but she told him to meet her in the _Baratie_ as she was on her way there to meet up with somebody.

He went outside the Galley la tower and got inside the cab taking him to the _Baratie_. He sat wondering what food he should pick for his date night, what he should be wearing, what should he be doing with his apartment. His cellphone beeped, again, he sighed in frustration and looked at the texts, nearly all of them were Sanji’s. But the recent once were from Tashigi, he had been ignoring them for a while now, Sanji had stopped texting since the evening but Tashigi did not, even if he would reply Tashigi out of courtesy then she would sent three more texts and that was really tiring, he did not want to be so high and mighty to her but saying that ‘he was too busy to check the texts’ was easy to tell her.

He dialed Law’s number and waited for him to pick up but instead, call went to the voicemail and Zoro had to hang up. Next, Zoro called Ace and found that Ace was already at _Brook’s_ with all others from the ‘mugiwarah’ group already present there, except for Sanji, chopper and Nami, so he could not ask Ace anything. Zoro reached the _Baratie_ , he went inside to meet Nami. Zoro spotted Nami seated at the usual table, but she was talking with some other clients. She gestured him to wait till she finishes with her meeting with the clients, he nodded and went to sit at the bar.

“Anything I can get you sir?” asked the bartender,

“No, I am just waiting for somebody!” Zoro said without looking at him,

“A girlfriend? May I suggest you a drink for you as you wait for her till then?” asked him again,

“Look man, I don’t want anything as of now. Just wait for some time okay!” Zoro said in slight irritated tone, he has been annoyed by pushy people lately.

“Of course sir! I am your man if you need anything!” Bartender said huskily as he stared at Zoro before scooting away,

‘What is wrong with these people? They won’t stop hitting on, even if they know I am not interested!’ thought Zoro irritably,

Patty was at the counter near the kitchen door, he found Zoro seated at the bar and he threw a comment to tease Sanji,

“You know Carnie, our pretty little bartender is found a handsome young police boy to flirt with, look the way he is ogling Zoro!” mocked Patty.

“I would not blame him much, that greenhead is charming! After all he got our pretty sue Chef’s pants in twist!” Carnie replied and all the cooks started laughing their heads off,

“Stop slacking off you third class cooks!” yelled Sanji and finished garnishing the dish before handing it over to the waiter; they all just ignored Sanji and kept laughing at the blonde. Sanji sighed and muttered a curse under his breath as he took out his cigarette heading for the door that opened to the back ally, before he could reach the door Sanji’s phone started ringing with a number that read as private number,

“Yes hello?” said Sanji a little irritated after he picked the call up,

“Hey! It’s me again! You are still seeing me at 11, right?” came a deep voice and Sanji’s face drained off the color,

“I told you already, not today, we can’t see each other daily!” Sanji said gritting his teeth, panicking,

“C’mon Babe! We need to figure out how to convince your dad about this!” was the voice from other end,

“Why you have to call from different number every fucking time? How the hell you could do that to my cellphone eh? Shit! I still can’t believe that I just forgave you, you sly bastard!”

“You love me so much, that’s why! C’mon now, I bought you the better one, didn’t I?”

“What you want?”

“You! Of course! Now, I know you are angry, but I told you I will make it up to you! I love you baby!”

“Bye Roger, see you at 10!” said Sanji smiling sadly,

“Bye sweetheart, I will be waiting at the usual place!” said the man and Sanji hanged up the phone, Sanji sighed but gritted his teeth as he spotted all the cooks there gawking at Sanji.

\---------

The cooks in the _Baratie_ had once busted Sanji goofing around, babbling cheesy things about Zoro, few weeks back while he had been trying to make Zoro’s favorite food while talking all by himself about how he is going to seduce his way into Zoro’s life with help of his cooking. Sanji had never done that before, not for a guy anyways. That incident had left the cooks making fun of poor Sanji left and right. Sanji muttered another curse under his breath at the memory and took a break for a smoke as he went out of the kitchen avoiding another fight with Patty and Carnie. His fights proved them right all the more.

“Hey Sanji, your friend is been waiting for you! Don’t you wanna go?” said Myra, the new waitress _Baratie_ had hired,

“Thank you Myra chan, I would go right away!” said Sanji sincerely, avoiding looking at her face. If he would have looked at her, he might have had guessed that he was being tricked, the cooks inside kitchen had pulled a prank, asking the new girl to tell Sanji that Zoro was asking for Sanji when nothing like that had happened. Zoro was, of course, unaware of all this and Sanji’s cook friends just wanted something to tease Sanji with, Sanji had always been pain in ass to all of them, now they were so going to enjoy blonde’s embarrassment!!

Sanji went to the bar and stood near Zoro in such a way that Zoro had his back to Sanji, he was thinking about what Zoro would have come to talk with him for, Sanji had not forgotten the incident last time he had seen Zoro. Sanji also noticed that Zoro was alone, Jane was not with him or anywhere near him which was rare now-a-days, he was confused but excited at the same time. He noticed Zoro was busy doing something in his cellphone, he saw Zoro sighing in frustration,

‘Is he finally thinking about what I said to him? So, does that mean he is reconsidering now? Shit! I should not have said anything to him at all, I should have just kept ignoring all that and we would be like the way we have always been, at each other’s throat. Now I can’t even fight with him or we can’t keep bickering, getting into those interesting meaningless fights ,….Shit! everything is so messed up!’ thought Sanji, Seeing Zoro there and thinking that he had asked for Sanji to talk to him, as Zoro had visited _Baratie_ alone this time, Sanji couldn’t help but wonder why Zoro wanted to see Sanji that day. Sanji took few steps more to reach Zoro and cleared his throat in order to get Zoro’s attention and that worked just fine, Zoro turned to look at him,

“Cook? I mean,………….. Hello, Sanji!” Zoro said awkwardly acknowledging cook’s presence but not looking at him as he looked at the beeping phone in his hand, he had been texting Jane to flirt with her and she had just replied with another flirty comment,

‘Je! You are going to be the end of me!’ Thought Zoro reading her text and smirking at it, Zoro then closed his eyes and felt the Cook’s gaze on him,

‘Fuck! What the hell is Sanji doing here? God! I am not in the mood to handle him right now, I need to ask Nami about the debt, I need to order some food and sake, I need to buy some gift for Je. I need to talk to Law or Ace! Wait a minute! The guy, who is dated most girls in the whole fucking Grand line, is here! Right in front of me! Should I ask him an advice? Shit! He won’t take it as a man and it can piss him off hearing about me and Je. This is going to bad news for him, but I need to tell him anyways, he has to accept it one way or the other.’ thought Zoro as he stared at the cellphone in his hand,  

“Hello Zoro!” Sanji said replying as he went and sat near him,

‘On the second thought, Sanji is best person to tell me what food and wine I should take, it actually would be the best! Fuck! Why the hell these things are so difficult? Wait ! Wait! May be they are not! It’s Jane for Christ’s sake! My Jane! She is so simple woman and we have been doing this for ages, having food and beer together! But this is my first frigging date in my whole fucking existence! Maybe……. I should do it properly! Like a memorable date or something! Fuck!! I am not cut out for this thing! And I sure as hell know that Jane also isn't! Fuck it!! I should ask somebody experienced! Even if I will have to ask Sanji, I will, it’s better than asking any of the girls from the group.”

“Zoro! Hey say something!” said Sanji wanting to make him to talk to him , Zoro needed to stop overthinking about his date with Jane but he just couldn’t.

‘I think I should go and buy some goddamned suit she had asked me to buy. Shit! Am I wearing a suit on date? No! We would be just at home! Shit! My apartment is still is mess! Hell, I am going to get mad till she shows up!’ Zoro’s train of thoughts was stopped by Sanji’s hands touching Zoro’s shoulders,

“You okay? You look like you are in trouble! What is it?” asked Sanji in low and sincere voice, Zoro blinked and looked at Sanji’s face. His eyes settled on blonde, he focused on present situation,

“Oh! Sanji, ……I could use …..ahem…., little advice! Holy shit! You okay Sanji?” asked Zoro worriedly, as he noticed there was small bandage on Sanji’s head, he looked thinner and paler, his eyes had dark circles below them, eyes were almost swollen, Sanji reeked of cigarette, his hair was not properly done, his tie was messed up. Sanji always cared about his appearance; he always was in his best looks and best suits. He looked kind of worn out.

“Oh! I am okay, just a little sick!” lied Sanji smiling awkwardly,

‘Is it because I have been avoiding him? Seriously? Is he serious about being in love with me? Why Cook? Why now? I don’t want anything on my conscious you stupid cook! What are you doing this with yourself for hun?’ Zoro thought, getting worried over the Blonde.

Zoro’s cellphone beeped again, he checked if it was Jane who texted him but it was not so, he just avoided reading it.

“You sure you are going to be okay sick cook? You don’t look good to me! I have never seen your sickness altering your looks before!” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on Sanji. That actually brought smile on Sanji’s tired face and it was genuine smile,

“Looks like someone still cares!” said Sanji as he smirked at Zoro,

“Don’t push it cook! I need your advice for food and sake! Can you suggest some?” asked Zoro looking away from the smirking Blonde, pretending to busy himself in his cellphone,

“I can, if I know the occasion and the people. Different people calls for different choices as do the different occasions.” Said Sanji gracefully moving his hand in air,

“Okay! I need to help this friend of mine, he is taking his girl on date for the first time, he wants it to be special, um…..girl is more into …mmmm….what we can say the spicy food, meat or fish may be and she has a good….…has a good taste in drinks…….umm….you know, she knows how to handle her liquor..…What will you suggest? You are best foodie I know! so um…..let is help him ne?” asked Zoro awkwardly, pretending he was busy reading from his cellphone,

“You didn’t tell me anything about the guy?” asked Sanji narrowing his eyes on Zoro, he had already gotten a whiff of what Zoro was talking about, he just wanted Zoro to admit it, to tell Sanji the truth,

“Oh! He is not important, I mean, he wants to make her happy, so don’t bother about him!” said Zoro all too quickly, Sanji stood up from the stool and started walking away,

“Okay! I will have your food ready, for two! I suppose. I reckon, you would require it as early as possible and if you would, I would like you take a ‘Beringer’ or Gallo’s wines, they are one of the finest and best. But knowing you and Jane chan, I should advice the _Akita_ _Homare_ or _Choryu_ _Tsukihi_ _Kasanate,_ the best Sake types or ‘Donnybrook’ or ‘Obsidian’ stout. You would not have to wait for long for the food, I know what she likes.” Said Sanji in pure professional tone and curt voice walked away with frown on his face,

“Shit! That went bad!” muttered Zoro under his breath, he felt bad for the cook but he really had no option,   

After half hour of waiting,

A waitress came and told Zoro that Nami had actually made her ask Zoro to see her, Zoro nodded at the girl as he too stood up and went to talk to Nami,

“Witch, here, I brought some money, it’s going to be irregular from now on, just like this, if you would just calculate how much is remaining now?” asked Zoro as he took out an envelope from his Jacket and was opening it, Nami gave him ‘are you crazy’ face,

“What you mean? Zoro, didn’t you get the mail? You debt has been settled! All of it along with the amount of interest. In fact, I have sent you a mail about this scheme for saving the money, I think you could start saving now as you will be left with some extra money!” Nami said scolding the green head.

Zoro’s expressions were clearly of surprise, Nami immediately pulled out her tab and started checking for something. Zoro was confused, how can somebody do that without him knowing, unless of course they knew about it, but only Ace, Sanji, Brook and Nami knew about it and nobody had that kind of money to settle such a huge amount at once, except of course for Nami, which she would never do in million years.

“What? Wait a minute! My debt is been settled? It was more than what, fucking 9 million! Who would…” Zoro’s sentence was cut off by Nami,

“Look! This is the person from whose account the money came from, in this afternoon, some Mr. John Harries. I checked him for a fraud, but he is not, the transaction and money was legitimate and you have a joint account with this person in the World government Bank, you two had bought in the some high value shares of this company named Galley la and guess what you got a good amount of benefit from the stock market. Every transaction is legitimate, we had our agents and lawyers checked everything as amount was quite a good sum. Well, turns out you are the nominee for all the benefits, the wired transfer in afternoon made a huge increase in dynamics of your account. I immediately cleared it against your debt, so you are free man now Zoro! Didn’t you receive the text alert you Neanderthal? You should have!” chided Nami,

“John Harries! Shit! John!” said Zoro,

“Oh! So you do know him! Good! Relative? Friend? Ex-lover? Hun? Tell me!” chided Nami smirking a little,

“Hey, can you give me any details about him, a contact number or address or something?” asked Zoro,

“Here, take the contact person details. Introduce me, will ya! He seems like nice and rich, and if he is handsome too, I would like to date him!” mocked Nami handing him over the tab, she looked at him with confused face as he looked so dam disappointed even after getting his debt cleared.

“What’s up? You should be happy. I mean you just got 9 million for God’s sake, I would be the happiest person in world if somebody had done that for me!” exclaimed Nami,

“Huhh, guess what I am not you, witch!” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on tab,

“Bad Luck Zoro! You are such a ass when it comes to money!”

“And you are such a greedy witch!” spat Zoro,

“Yeah! You come to me when you need money next time, no bank is going to lend you any and I will but with my usual 300% interest!” said Nami giving him sly face,

“Fuck your money!” whispered Zoro under his breath as he noticed her devilish expressions,

A waiter came with packages balanced in his hands, he placed the packages on table,

“Sir, your order is here, the payment has been done in full! Thank you and visit again!” he gave a curt nod and turned on his heels to leave,

“My my, nobody gets as lucky as you!” mocked Nami,

“Hey! Wait! Who paid for this?” asked Zoro confused, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ thought Zoro.

“Mr. Sanji Black, our sue chef! Have a nice day sir!” said the man before walking away,

“Sanji? He paid for food you ordered? Man! Is he okay? He is not been himself lately! Not after what we did to Jane! She has not been with us at all after that whole invasion attack and the explosion, we never got to see her or even apologize to her for that matter. Nobody had it seen coming, we hurt her real bad hun! I think Sanji had taken to his heart. It all was my stupid mistake. Or I don’t know what’s wrong with Sanji?”

“Dam right you don’t!” said Zoro annoyed,

“Zoro? What is up with you now?” asked Nami,

“Nothing, I gotta go!” said Zoro getting up,

“Hey, if possible make Jane come for Choppere’s birthday party! It’s time all we get back together! All of us!” said Nami,

“Yeah! I would try but don’t count on anything!” said Zoro as he walked away the way he had come in with his hands full with the food packets.

 -----------------------------------------

 Zoro was so rattled about the 9 million, he forgot about buying any gift or any new clothes, he just wanted to confront John.

‘John won’t do anything on his own and that money definitely did not belong to John. He would not be working as a secretary if he owned that kind of money to give away to anybody like that. This can only mean Jane settled my debt. She knew about all this since forever but she did not say anything. 9 million, shit! What were you thinking Je? I cannot accept it, it’s way too much, even for you, to gift away like that!’ thought Zoro as he sat in the cab going back to his place.

Zoro called John’s cellphone, he did not reply. John was not in office neither was Jane, he asked guards, they told him that John was out of the premises and Zoro knew that Jane was most probably was with Shanks. He decided to text her,

_‘Jane, I need to talk. It’s urgent! Call me when you can!’_

He texted her and took the package in which he had food and the stout as he made his way to his own apartment.

‘I would ask her to take back that money! I am going to scold her a little! I don’t even know what Sanji has packed this thing with, I hope she likes it! Shit, that all went terribly wrong with the cook! I hope he takes it all right! He looked horrible, maybe I should go and talk to him one day!’ thought Zoro as he opened the door of his apartment, he made his way in, shut the door behind him before hitting the lights and …………………….

 

“Holy shit!” was all Zoro could say,

 

His breath got caught in his lungs and his eyes were wide as wide as they could go…………...

His empty apartment was filled with classic and beautiful furniture, unique floor lamps, decorative ceiling lamps, big LCD TV, expensive curtains, trendy paintings covering the walls, his swords placed in a three tier wall stand in traditional Japanese way, the place was arranged to make it feel homely. It did not seem that big now, it was cozy but elegant. He swallowed thickly as he explored his own apartment like a stranger; he was not sure what he was thinking about all this now. He was caught between rock and hard place, whether to admire how beautiful, nostalgic and traditional the place felt or to be pissed at Jane, for having it done without telling him about it first.

He placed the food in his hand on the table carefully not to mess up the decor, he went to his bedroom, and that was most beautiful bedroom he had ever seen in his life, he spotted the slightly open wardrobe, it was just slightly open as if it was tempting Zoro to take a look inside. He was stunned at the expensive clothes and collection of all the things in there, all essentials along with the accessories, there was section for Suits, casuals, belts, ties, separate one for shoes. He checked the bathroom, it was loaded with the expensive products; he ran quickly to kitchen and checked it to find it had all necessary utensils along with some expensive equipments. When he recovered from the new expensive look of his ultra-modern kitchen he found that his bar was filled with most expressive brands of wines, whisky, champagne, Sake and varieties of Vodka and scotch. He did not dare to touch anything, as if he would contaminate it or break it. He came to the living again, stood by the door, closed his eyes and gave out a frustrated sigh.

“What the hell is happening!!!!” yelled Zoro at his apartment,

Zoro received a call from Jane, he looked at it and thought for a second as if to decide what to speak, he finally picked up the call to yell at her but Jane beat him to it when she spoke,

“Zoro, hey I am done here! You were saying something urgent came up, I am in the elevator all right, I will be there in few!” said Jane in happy voice, unknown of what was to come,

“Okay!” said Zoro before he hanged up,

Zoro went out, stood near his door, then went over to the elevator, stood near it getting impatient to talk to her. Elevator dinged after two minutes, Zoro was right outside the door, Jane came out with a slight tired smile on her face but it disappeared as soon as she noticed Zoro’s rattled and disturbed face,

“What were you thinking Jane?” asked Zoro in very irritated Voice,

Jane raised an eyebrow at him, her face showed expression of surprise and confusion, Zoro folded his hands on his chest as he frowned at her,

“What is going on?” asked Jane arching her blond eyebrow,

“Jane, look! You gift me some car or bike or even some expensive thing like something made out of gold or some expensive watch, it’s is different thing; I mean, it’s at least acceptable to some extent. But 9 million? That is a bit much for anybody to accept even as a gift! And how many millions you spent on decorating my apartment with that expensive furniture and filling the place with all those equipment and things, I mean you just went overboard with that Jane!” exclaimed Zoro in voice laced with frustration and anger, Jane narrowed her eyes looking away from his gaze as if thinking about something,

“Zoro, look, I guess I have an idea what you are pissed about. Don’t take it in a wrong way, I was trying to help you a bit and John must have gone a little too deep in the act, don’t freak out we will solve it!” said Jane trying to calm him, gesturing him to take it easy, he unfolded his hands and came closer to her and gripped her shoulders in firm grip which surprised her as that was not the way he usually held her, she felt his troubled mind,

“No Jane! You don’t understand! I don’t need that kind of help okay! I did not join Hawkeyes for money, I did it for you and of course, I wanted to matter, wanted to matter to world, to you! I wanted to do everything on my own terms, Je I am self-made man! I would like to be like that only! Now you take back what you have done, right now!” said Zoro with little anger and regret in his voice, Jane was confused with the kind of irritation his voice was suggesting, she narrowed her eyes on him again,

“Zoro, I do respect you and what you stand for, I know you are self-made and proud man, I know I should have told you about this in morning only. I honestly did not want to mess up but it’s okay, you can give it back to me, it’s just some money! it’s not a big deal! So, chill out! Will you?” said Jane in irritated voice, trying to convey her feelings to him, Zoro left her shoulders and gave her ‘what the hell?’ face.

“How you can say that Jane? You practically saying that not only you had me investigated, but you also did not approve of my financial conditions and that is why you did all for me, without even telling me about it. What?? Am I not rich enough for you now?” exclaimed Zoro in frustrated tone, Jane blinked her eyes, Jane’s heart felt heavy, she got very sad, thinking that she had hurt Zoro,

“Don’t say it like that Zoro, please. It’s not what you think, I know it looks bad but I did not have any intention of causing you pain. I am sorry that I hurt you, Zoro! It’s not that bad, I still can make it up to you, look you can pay me back or whatever, money is not the object. You work here, you have good pay. I just don’t want you to bother with what you don’t have anymore! I messed up, I messed up bad, I am sorry. Zoro, I never wanted to hurt you!” said Jane in worried voice and pleading face,

“Guess what, you just did! It’s like Usopp says, you are a showoff and you overdo things! I joke about you buying me drink and all, I even let you buy me lunch sometimes that does not mean you get to buy me a luxury life. I am not like that, I cannot accept that Jane! Now, if you will excuse me, I need some time to think and I want to be alone!” spat Zoro irritably and walked away before she could reply him, her face was sad, brows were furrowed and her eyes were wide the way he sounded, he did not turn around to spare her a second glance, though she waited him to stop and talk to her, let her explain her side of the story, he went down straight to 18th floor, the office, leaving Jane there.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro was in the office sitting at his desk in his cubicle, he had his head down, his head held in his hands, his elbows on table top. Zoro was sitting there like a defeated man, he did not know what to think and what to do, he was sure as hell was pissed at Jane but did not want to yell at her.

‘Shit! Je! I did not want to yell at you! Why you had to do it like that? I knew you are superior to me but I thought I could win you with what all I have! What do I do with you now eh? Baby, I miss you already. Shit! I should not have yelled at her, she must have felt really bad, shit the way I held her like that, she must have felt bad! Shit! Why this all had to happen! Why today!!!’ thought Zoro,

His heart was getting heavier by the minute as he thought back about the way he spoke to her, he knew he must have hurt her but he had gotten hurt too, he had asked her out on a date but that thing was ruined now, he was now even in more debt than he was before,  

‘Shit! Can this get any worse?’ thought Zoro when elevator dinged and somebody got out, they made their way into the office, somebody now stood right behind him,

“I need some time alone, I am sorry can’t talk to you right now!” said Zoro softly assuming it was Jane who stood behind him.

“Sir, did you no like the arrangement at your place or you did not visit your place yet?” asked John in excited voice, Zoro’s anger boiled,

“Asshole!” Zoro muttered under his breath,

“I just needed to know that Jane ordered it and you did it! Now I know, it as I already have talked with Jane. Now can you please leave me the hell alone?” snarled Zoro,

“She did not give me any specific instructions, she just ordered me to help you fixing your things in your apartment, convince you to take money from me and help you buy some stuff for your apartment to make it feel like home for you, that included helping you with your unpacked things, buying you some new once according to your requirement. Yes, she did tell me to find out why you feel uncomfortable in your place but as for the rest; I did everything on my own. She just needed to know if you were in any kind of trouble, financially! I was not ordered to do it today itself but I did. I investigated you on my own, she yelled at me for that but I have access up to 15 million on her behalf so I thought I would upgrade you all together.” Said John calmly, he stood there few feet away from Zoro, his hands stuffed in pockets of his pants,

“Who the hell you think you are to take such a decisions on your own? And you remain answerable to her, your actions are nothing but her orders the way I see it, you do it because she allows it!” spat Zoro glancing over his shoulder to look at John,

“No Mr. Roronoa Zoro! I do what I do on my own because she trusts my judgment and a way I think. The way I see it, you are altogether neglecting what you did? You failed her, you failed her trust!” said John emphasizing the word Trust.

“The hell?” exclaimed Zoro as he stood up and turned back to look at him giving him ‘Excuse me? What the hell you just said??’ face, he found John walking towards him taking something out from his pocket,

John put an old school voice recorder in front of Zoro, on his desk and pressed a button on it and it started playing,

 _“Jane, he does that every day! It’s nothing unusual besides the fact he did not wake up and come work out with you today morning!”_ was John’s voice,

 _“John, what’s up with him? You looked into what I had asked for?”_ was Jane’s voice and Zoro raised his eyebrow at her voice, Zoro moved to grab the device but John stopped him,

_“Jane, he doesn’t seem to like the apartment. Even after you two hang out and you go to Shanks’, he comes down in here, works his ass off, he seemed to be comfortable in here more than his own apartment. When you two were out yesterday, I sneaked into his place, his things are still packed in the boxes, I went through them except for some documents which I thought were a little personal, some family stuff and photos.”_

_“John Why the he…”_ Zoro heard her getting angry but he heard John continuing before letting her complete _._

_“Jane, he barely owns anything. I found his pay cheques that are for his work in Hawkeye are laying on his desk in living. I think he feels uncomfortable in there. I mean apartment is empty, barely used, only filled with what we already provide with apartment itself, which also seemed untouched except for the air-conditioner and washing machine. The guy is orthodox and traditional; I guess the apartment is too modern and big for him.”_

Zoro heard her sigh,

_“I did not tell you to sneak into his place, you Idiot! You are really going to get caught one day, I won’t back you up, you understand that? You are not to judge the way he lives or thinks. I wanted a report not an opinion. Look John, we don’t do such things to our own John, Zoro is family now. Anyways, report on Finances? Anybody bothering him? Anything I can help him with? Banks?”_

_“Nope, nothing other than the Hawkeye pay cheques, bank account has 5733 berries, he sends a good amount of money, precisely one third of what he earns, to this person named Koshiro, I guess his father; back in the east blue county, at his home town; one third goes to Nefertari bank as an installment to repay his debt, one third is used for the essentials. No other expenses, no other purchases, no savings and no playing in stock market, no other properties, no house of his own either! He owns a bike and three precious _Katanas_ worth millions, the _Wado Ichimonji, Sandai Kitetsu, Yubashiri._ But that is all he has. No other relatives and friends in Grand line that we did not already know of, no previous lovers or secret admirers, no involvement in crime or perjury. He is clean.”_

Zoro heard her sigh again and quickly came irritated her voice,

 _“My God, John! I just wanted to know about his financial conditions, who told you to have him investigated like that?”_ was Jane’s scolding voice,

_“I did it myself, nobody is going to find out. And I did not explicitly search for his past, it just came up.”_

_“It’s still looks bad, I mean it looks like I don’t trust him, my own team mate, my friend, my”_

_“Your lover!”_

_“John?”_

_“Okay! What you want me to do? How do I fix this?”_

_“Look, just fix it, don’t put him in awkward position okay, he is important.  I want everything to be legitimate, no laws should be broken, I don’t want him to suffer from any moral losses, he is a very honest man, keep that in mind. Do whatever you like but it should be ethical.”_ Zoro closed his eyes in frustration after hearing Jane say that,

“Shit!” said Zoro,

 _“Well, I personally think you should talk to him about it, lend him some money yourself, go shopping with him, buy decent things and help him put his place together.”_ Zoro sighed listening john suggest that to Jane,

“ _First! I don’t have time for that and that is why you are here at my disposal. Second, I never go shopping, not even for my underwear. Third, I don’t know how to put the place together, you of all people should know how bad I am at those things, you arranged everything my apartment, it has never been rearranged since. So you get the picture now, scoot! Do what you are supposed to!”_

_“Of all the people, at least I didn’t need that ‘not even my underwear’ speech Jane! I mean C’mon! Who knows any better?”_

The john stopped the device,

“Like you can figure out, she did not tell me what to do, I did it to put you to a test. I work for Mihawk too you see! When I told her to help you by herself and offer you help in term of money and help you put your apartment together she gave me that speech and you! Mr. Zoro Roronoa, did you even let her explain her side of the story??” snarled John,

Zoro was speechless, he did not know what to think anymore, he really had left Jane without even giving her chance to explain,

“I misused the fact that she did not give me specific instruction and I could use 15 million without being questioned, because that is my money you are seeing right now. It’s not even hers. I put you in a position that raised the questions on your faith in her, the trust she has in you and guess what? You just don’t have faith in her!”

“Shut up John, given the situation I only could have..” Zoro got interrupted by John,

“Even when she heard you blaming her destroy your pride, did she sell me out? Did she say even for once that it was all John’s fault. No, I can guarantee she must have said that she would fix it, didn’t she?  If she had done that, sell me out, you would be choking my throat right now, but she didn’t! Mr. Roronoa, that is what faith sounds like, which she has put in me, in you and she had put it in that bastard Lucci too.”

Zoro remembered that she did say that she would fix everything; she never said it was John’s fault. Zoro dropped his shoulders, massaged his temple when he realized his mistake, he was put to a test and he had failed,

“I may look exactly like Jason but I assure you that I am no wuss like him. Nor am I a shmuck like him! What you thought? You would ask for the moon and you would get it without as much as jumping in the air. I won’t let her heart suffer again, I will put you through every last test and then I will allow you to be near her! Didn’t you promise her to be with her and by her side no matter what? I guess you broke your promise when you just left her alone, without letting her explain anything. A single time, just one time you get to doubt her motives and you don’t lose opportunity to raise a doubt. You think the money matters to her?” asked John as he put his hand on Zoro’s shoulders,

“Hey! Suck it up! How was I supposed to feel eh? I know that I should have thought that she would never do anything to hurt me! Shit! But seeing all that money! I freaked out okay! Anybody would freak out!” yelled Zoro,

“Wow! You got offended and you felt rattled by the fact that Jane spent 9 million to clear all your debt but you seemed to have no problem whatsoever when she was spending the money on all of you in those two weeks when you all were enjoying the royal services at her palace. You think that all did not cost her any fortune? Do you think a private plane, all those servants, that palace, all those things you enjoyed there did not cost her anything? Half of her property was destroyed in that attack! She got severely injured protecting all of you, she fought with death itself, those guns, that kind of firepower, her medical treatment, those medicines? That manor renovation, It all required money you know! I can go on and on! Money is not everything! At least not for her. She fought for people who she didn’t even know about when she took to safety the likes of Jason from that hell hole, she had been tormented in her childhood, she protected people putting their needs above her own and you knew all this. You really think she wanted to wound your pride, she thought of your financial status before deciding to love you back? I am disappointed in you!” John added furiously but Zoro interrupted his speech,

“Enough yapping John! Don’t push it!” Zoro said standing up and slamming his hands on the table.

John backed off a little seeing Zoro get all angry and troubled, John scooted a little back but narrowed his eyes on Zoro,

“I get your point John! I failed once but not completely and hell, I am not going lose her over this shit! She did what she did behind my back! Though her intentions and thoughts were innocent her method wasn’t. But I get it now, it was all a misunderstanding! I will talk to her! And you! Make sure you don’t record her ever again or I will kill you!”

“Really, I would like to see you try! I am far too important to die by your hands Zoro” mocked John and smirked at him.

“Thank you for coming to me John! Now if you will excuse me, I have a girlfriend to apologize to!” Zoro said as he hurried to the elevator,

“Yeah?? Girlfriend my ass!! Ask her to be your girlfriend first till then she is not! That is of you can find her or get to talk to her!” yelled John as he warned Zoro,

“What you mean?” yelled Zoro as he stopped dead in his tracks,

“She went dark half hour ago! Completely off the Hawkeye grid! Good luck finding her! Man! I leave here just for an hour and everything starts falling apart!!” said John and walked away from Zoro,

“Shit Jane!” said Zoro and sighed in frustration.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

‘I should not have him investigated like that, he trusted me and I hurt him! I knew, I just knew, I would do something stupid and hurt him and push him away. I had told shanks that I should not let him be with me, I would hurt him eventually. Thing is I can’t bring myself to trust anybody now! I should not have asked John to do anything. I thought, I would tell Zoro today, over dinner but I never thought John would be so quick! Shit! I ruined it! I don’t know if he even wants to see my face again! Fuck! he sounded so offended! Of course he was! And anybody would be!’ thought Jane, her face was sad, placed on her knees, she hugged herself with hands wrapped around her body, wind ruffling her hair, her eyes closed, her face showing pain and sorrow,

‘I am such a horrible person! He is going hate me! He was with me even when I was having bad time, he took care of me, he tried to help me, tried to bond with me! Those two weeks seemed like forever, should not have ended! I am horrible! Did I behave like Lucci? Did I just try to dominate Zoro? Did I ……..Oh! Shit! I ruined the date! I ruined his mood, I wounded his pride! I broke his heart! What am gonna do? I wanted to have you Zoro, at least as a friend!’ Jane was feeling so miserable, a warm salty water droplet slid down her left cheek. She could cry here all she wanted, sitting in nearly empty park, the night time would not have made anybody notice her tears, nobody was around to look at her sad face.

‘I could not even apologize to him properly! God! I am so sorry Zoro and I miss you! I really do! But why didn’t you let me talk? Why did you react like that Zoro!’ thought Jane, her cheeks were getting wet by warm water seeping out of her closed eyes,

“I missed you too baby!” came a familiar deep baritone voice that made Jane flinch, she swallowed thickly against the lump in her throat and spoke dryly,

“Go away! Leave me alone! I am sure that is not too difficult for you!” spoke Jane in tight voice, turning her face away from the direction from where the sound came, still eyes closed shut, now her face had a frown and her eyebrows were furrowed.

She felt a finger on her cheek as her tear droplet got gently wiped off and sucked inside a warm set of lips, she opened her eyes to glare at Him,

“I said leave me alone! You wanted to be alone, didn’t you, you were done, weren’t you! Go away or I will go!” Jane said narrowing her eyes,

“Aren’t you going to give me any chance to explain? I have been looking for you all over the city, I missed you Baby! I just wanted to talk you, tell you that I did it for your own sake!” came a deep firm voice that tried to convince Jane, the deep dark mysterious black eyes that Jane was once very fond of, now she only looked at them suspiciously, he eyed her as he got closer to her,

Jane sighed and looked away,

“Leave!” said Jane coldly,

“Would listen to me for a minute?” was calm and deep voice,

Jane stood up and started walking away, he gripped her wrist to stop her,

“Darling, I need you, please come back, I want things to go back the way they were. I want to be with you, forever. I loved you, I really do love you. Look, I lied to you back then to keep you away from harm’s way!” said Lucci in firm tone, Jane was trying to get away, he had a firm grip on her wrist.

“Lucci, I don’t want to hear anything! Just go away, I don’t even want to see your face!” said Jane in sad voice, it felt like she was about to cry.

“Jane. I am here to confess, it was meant to be an act, yes it was, in the start, I did act but soon I really fell for you! I really did love you! I still do, I want you baby, and you know that I won’t give up! You remember how I kept asking you to be my girlfriend for over a year, you remember days we spent dating while we were in collage, do you? I can continue tailing you like this, asking you out like this till you agree, you know that I can do it, I will keep doing it, I will win your heart back, you know it, don’t you?” said Lucci in husky voice,

“I don’t. Leave my hand!” spat Jane angrily,

“Why were you injured terribly like that when you returned to the Grand line Jane? Tell me, who did that to you?” asked Lucci in voice laced with frustration. Jane tugged on her arm over his grip and hissed. He reluctantly had to let go if her arm, if he would not have left her hand she would have sprained it,

“Why? You want to kill all of them too, Mr. Killer?” spat Jane, finally taking her hand away from his,

“Jane, I am not a killer just like that. I am not just as assassin you think of me as! I want to explain it all to you, just come with me for once.”  Said Lucci walking near her so as to restrain her from walking away, he tried to sneak an arm around her waist.

“Don’t touch me!” yelled Jane when she felt his palm on her waist, he stopped and took his hand away.

“Okay! I won’t. Would you look at me now! I need to tell you everything!” Lucci said furrowing brows getting impatient with her behavior,

“I don’t need to hear your lies again, Goodbye!” spat Jane and started walking away. He walked faster and stood in her way,

“Looks like you have taken a real interest in that green haired boy. I will lie again if I say that I am not jealous. I felt my insides burned when I saw you two together. But I have learned to control my temper, for you, I want to make it right; I want to make it up to you. Have you two….” Lucci’s sentence was cut off by her angry one, as he had snapped Jane out if her sorrowful state and now she was angry,

“Mind your own business Mister! What I do with him is my own decision, yes he is important! Yes I have an interest in him. He is honest, proud and kind person not like some overconfident, cocky, devious and inhuman prick I know! Anyways I am not answerable to you and I am not your girlfriend anymore, Oh! My bad, I never was your girlfriend to begin with; I was just some toy for you to use and throw away when you were done with me! But now you have no right to meddle into my matters! You are nothing but a sly manipulative villain!” yelled Jane to his face as tears seeped out of her beautiful eyeballs, came raining down her angry face. His eyes soften a little, looking at her crying face and that was not new but she saw it as an act again,

“Don’t say that! Jane, look I had to do it okay! I could not tell you everything back then, I had to lie you to protect you. You know how protective I am to you baby; I would do anything to protect you. I told you that I am yours forever, don’t you remember that? Six years, we were together for six years, you could have caught me at least once if I was lying about loving you, but you did not because I did love you. And I promise it won’t happen again, just come back to me! I need you!” said Lucci almost sounding soft, his voice was still firm and confident but somewhat softer than earlier. Jane knew that was the most apologetic that he could ever sound, he saying such things only meant he was pleading her even though he did not sound like one.

“Look, you…….[sniffle] …… and your bullshit theories! Go and find another girl to please yourself with……[sniffle] ……… I am not your toy anymore! [sob] As much I would have wanted to believe you, I don’t and I won’t. I won’t ever! So, spare me this act and go away!” spat Jane wiping her face off the salty water with back of her hands,

“Jane, baby don’t cry anymore, I don’t wa……” Lucci stopped all of sudden and looked over her head. If they had not been having such an intense conversation they had noticed the third presence way much earlier, he narrowed his eyes in some direction.

She sensed it too, there was something in the trees, behind them, hiding in there. Jane looked over her shoulder, she spotted someone standing in there; she narrowed her eyes on the spot. She turned around to find someone standing in shadow. Jane tuned her neck to look back over her shoulder to the spot where Lucci stood only find it empty, he had already disappeared.

“Come out or you will get shot at!” warned Jane taking her hand to her gun,

Zoro emerged out from the shadows, Jane’s eyes went wide looking at his face, he looked pissed, she swallowed thickly and looked away dropping her head down guiltily avoiding looking into his eyes. He came walking to her, she closed her eyes furrowing her eyebrows, there was some metallic sound and she got handcuffed behind her back in the next second, she did not resist one bit.

He walked her out of the park as he kept his hand on her back possessively, she went along with whatever he was doing and did not speak a word. They went over to the car, Zoro opened the door for her to get in and cuffed her to car so that she won’t get away, she saw that he had a GPS navigator on in the panel of car, he went over the other side and got into driver’s seat and they finally drove away from the place to Galley la tower.

\-----------------------------

Car stopped in the parking, he took her out, cuffed her left hand to his right and walked her inside the building. They did not talk, not while they were coming back not when they reached the elevator. Guards outside the building and other people who saw them took suspicious glances at them, Jane was looking down at all the times, she never looked up to see what were they doing and where were they going. He took her to the elevator. They went up to floor at which Zoro’s apartment was. He texted a few people while they in the elevator.

They walked to the door to his place, he unlocked it by his key card and pressing a code into the panel. He took her cuffed hand in his own, her hand felt cold and weak. He gripped it firmly as he made her walk inside his place, she still was looking down and her face held expression of guilt. He took off the cuff, walked her over to the beautiful brand new couch in his living room and made her seat on it while he secured her hand as he cuffed it again to the metallic structure probing out of wall near the couch. He crouched down in front of her, took her face in his hands as he made her look at him.

Her vibrant blue orbs met his calm deep green, her face held guilt and so did Zoro’s, she chewed on her lip and her eyes looked down again as her eyelids dropped apologetically,

“I am so sorry Zoro, I should not have done whatever I did. You trusted me and I had you investigated. I am such a horrible person, I am really sorry Zoro. Please don’t hate me!” whispered Jane apologetically,

“ _Baka_ _Taichou_!! If you ever disappeared on me like that again….” Zoro sighed in frustration, Jane felt bad again, her heart felt even heavier, her eyes went sadder,

“Don’t you dare go dark like that ever again, you won’t do that to me! You understand you idiot?” scolded Zoro in very authoritive voice as he made her look at him by cupping her face more affectionately and possessively,

“Z……… Zoro..?” Jane whispered sounding weak, she looked warily at him totally confused, Zoro did not say a word about what she was apologizing for, he was so mad at her earlier about all that money and now he did not say anything about it,

“What you need to apologize .... is only for getting me all riled up, making me think that I had lost you! I spent last three hours looking for you in the whole frigging grand line! You know how horrible it felt! You won’t ever do that again to me you understand!” scolded Zoro in firm voice, Jane nodded dumbly with wide eyes as she instinctively grabbed his jacket,

“You sounded like you didn’t want to see my face, like I had to get myself out of here so I thought..” Jane whispered in uneasy tone but got interrupted again by Zoro’s hurried sentence as he brought her face even closer to his as he held her face in both his hands,

“Whatever I say, whatever I sound like, you don’t vanish like that!! I was stupid to walk away from you, I should not have left you like that and believe me I regretted it like anything but why you did not stop me there, you could have punched me in face and beaten some sense into me. Why didn’t you just make me listen to your side of the story hun?” he whisper yelled in tone laced with worry and care,

“But, Zoro, it’s all my mistake and I di..” Jane was cut off by pair of warm lips against her cold once, shiver ran down her spine as she felt his dominating mouth over hers, her eyes fluttered shut, he removed one of his hands from her face and held her from her waist to plaster her body to his. He possessively ravished her lips as he sucked in her lower lip, his right hand on back of her head pushing her into his face, left hand guiding her back to couch, she parted her lips immediately granting him the entrance.

Kiss deepened as he pushed her back in the seat and led her down in direction of the wall to which her hand was cuffed to. He got on top of her as the kiss deepened further as he tested all of her mouth. She tasted like cigarettes and mint this time. He placed his right hand on her waist and moved it seductively on her left side which was open to access as her hand was bound above her head, his hand slid down and came to caress her hip, his hand went backside to grope her ass, she moaned in the kiss causing him to groan in response. His left hand holding her right hand, their fingers laced together, he rubbed his body against hers drawing sweet sweet moans from her.

He pulled her thigh to make her wrap her legs around his waist, she did part her thighs wrapping him with her long legs getting nice friction of his half hard member against her clothed groin as he continued groping her bottom. They soon were breathless, he pulled away from her, leaving her panting and heaving.

He attacked her jaw line with possessive kisses and then moved to her neck, he started sucking and licking on skin of her neck,

“Zoro don’t, I am all sweaty! There is dirt on me; I was lying on grass in the park. D…….Don’t lick Zoro, it’s not sanitary!” Jane tried to protest writhing under him, captured under his strong body, but Zoro did not listen,

“So, this is the deal…..mhmmmmm…….. you are going to stay here with me for the whole night…………muhhmmm…. as we both have proper apologies to make…….munnnmm…….. like the one we just did. And you will…… for whole three hours 27 minutes……..muuuhhnnn………like I spend finding you with my head cussing myself…..mhumm….you will tell me…….muhhmmmm…...how should I make you punish for making me look for you all over the city!” Zoro said in between kisses he showered her neck with,

“S…..stay here?” whispered Jane and blushed at the thought.

“Damn right you are staying!” Zoro said capturing her kiss swollen lips again, this time kiss was soft and slow, like his usual once. This kiss was not dominating or hungry but sensual and apologetic. After he pulled out he smiled at Jane,

“I am sorry Je! I had promised you that I won’t leave you alone no matter what and I nearly broke it due to anger! I am sorry! I love you Jane!” he said and gave her quick peck on lips, he slid down a little and rested his head below her chin, he left her hand free and caressed her thighs with both his hands.  She smiled and ran her hand through his spiky greenish hair affectionately, enjoying the feel of his body resting against her own.

“I am sorry too, your anger was right and well directed. I actually had thought about telling you tonight over dinner, that is why I told you I would visit your place, I wanted to see what John was talking about. I never thought he would redesign everything within matter of mere hours. I had given him a go for this thing in morning, I thought he would look after my own apartment first but I never thought he would be this fast. You know Zoro, I am not cut out for these sort of things but he had suggested that I should talk with you first and help you arrange everything myself so I thought I would give it a try, that is why I proposed to come over. But I messed up in the end.” Said Jane,

“No, your instructions to him were not specific, you did not ask him to settle my debt. You merely expected him to do the right thing, you still are protecting him, I would have sued him by now but I see you trust him, he is good at what he does, he tested me, I failed but not miserably. Though your method was not correct your intentions were innocent. And I did not even give you a chance to explain!” Zoro whispered,

“You met him, you talked to him? [sighed Jane] He sometimes seems a little arrogant and talkative but trust me he is good person. forgive him please.”

“I just don’t believe you sometimes! You are far too kind to him! I don’t want to talk about that anymore” said Zoro,  

“So, aren’t you going to take off the cuffs?” asked Jane as she ran her fingers through his hair,

“Not until you promise me that you won’t vanish again! You know how difficult it is when I don’t even know which direction am I going in!” chided Zoro, Jane chuckled at his statement.

“Yeah! Real difficult especially for you!” mocked Jane.

“Yeah? Hey……..um……..Lucci tried anything? Did he hurt you?” asked Zoro worriedly,

“Nah! You heard us? He was convincing me that he still loves me, like I will buy that bullshit now?” said Jane,

“I did hear you guys a little, I had gun pointed at his head, that stupid dog came into the bushes out of nowhere and messed up everything.”

“Oh!”

“So, you want your hand back or not! I might lose key after sometime then don’t blame me if you had to play little bondage!” mocked Zoro tilting his head and kissing her chin,

“What! You crazy?” said Jane with wide eyes,

“You want to check if I am? I still have to punish you! Remember that??” mocked Zoro smirking at her,

“Okay! Okay! Zoro, I promise that I won’t go anywhere without telling you, would you please take the cuffs off now!” said Jane snorting, he pulled away from her, got up and removed the cuff, on her wrist, there was a many red lines marked with stress due to tugging on the cuffs too hard as if she was pulling against the cuffs so hard, he rubbed her skin to sooth it.  

“Why you tugged on it so hard you idiot, would have injured yourself!” Zoro scolded her,

“Not my fault, someone had really captured me badly, I could not help myself but get seduced by this charming Man! Aww!” chided Jane but gave a gasp as he pulled her up off the couch in his arms bridal style.

“By the way, apartment looks good! It’s elegantly modern yet traditional; you have to admire his choice of furniture and lamps.” Jane said as she looked around the place, putting her hands around Zoro’s neck and putting her head over his shoulder, looking back to the room where they left.

“And clothes, shoes, bathroom products, curtains, TV, Xbox, fireplace, kitchen utensils, Beverages, bedsheets and if I may add, the bathtub!” taunted Zoro, her face was in opposite direction of where they were heading to, she felt him snorting. She sighed relaxing her head against his as she was being carried to somewhere she didn’t know, she was busy gawking at the apartment as they walk.

“You are really pissed at him aren’t you?” said Jane,  

“You bet I am!” replied Zoro,

They went to bathroom, he put her down in front of small area covered in textured glass, Jane blushed red at the thought of where she was being taken,

“Okay princess, get in, take a shower! I sure as hell don’t want you keep saying that ‘it’s not sanitary! I am dirty!’ Go on, take a shower! After all, it’s not only the food that I want to taste!” said Zoro huskily tracing her lips with his fingers, Jane nodded shyly,

“Umm…..turn around?” said Jane blushing at his gaze on her,

“Nope! Not this time!” smirked Zoro and folded his hands over his chest. She narrowed her eyes on his smirking face and went inside, locking door behind her.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” yelled Zoro,

“Go, take care of the food! Didn’t you say this was a date!” mocked Jane,

“Okay your highness! I am going!” teased Zoro smirking at her voice.

After she heard sound his footsteps fading, she took clothes off one by one and threw them outside over the glass pane to create a messy puddle. He chuckled softly as he still stood there, outside the door, looking at the blurry image of her naked body, he could vaguely figure out how long really were her legs, the delicious curve of her bum, her slim long arms, her sweet modest curve of boobs, her practically perfect waist which made him capture her by waist every time her looked at her, her elegant swan like neck which he felt like keep sucking on and on. She threw her head back as she hummed at the feel of warm water against her aching back, watching and hearing that made Zoro’s member twitch inside his pants.

He had an urge to peek in from above the glass pane as water started running and she gave a hum of satisfaction again. But he sighed in defeat and crouched down instead to observe her clothes, he looked at her bra, size read 32C, her gray Calvin Klein boxer that read 6-8 meant medium. He took her clothes, he noticed her boxer was a little wet with her fluid, he smirked at the thought that their earlier make out had made her wet,

“I am keeping these you know!” yelled Zoro pocketing her underwear and her bra, Jane blinked at the voice and then it hit her,

“Zoro! I thought you were……….! Give it back idiot, what am I supposed to wear!” yelled Jane, her voice laced with panic. Zoro thought for a moment and took all of her remaining clothes in his hands and nosed into them taking her scent in, they were warm and they felt and smelled like Jane, smirked at new thought that had popped into his mind,

“Oh! You can have anything accept for these. You can have mine! Also you can opt for towel or bathrobe or even a bed-sheet! Or you can opt out of the whole clothes deal all together!” said Zoro, standing up and taking a towel in his hands,

“Pervert! I will call John to get my own clothes! How about that!” yelled Jane back,

“I won’t let him in! How about that? Anyways, even if you want to call him go ahead and do it, you have to walk to the door naked or in towel or in my clothes, so decide yourself sexy!” yelled Zoro and chuckled as he made his way to the door and Jane saw his shadow on the glass, his hand was on door handle,

“Don’t!” Whispered Jane to herself covering her breast with her hands as she looked at the door panicked but her face was beet red from blushing.

“I am leaving a towel here! Enjoy your shower love!” yelled Zoro and went away for real this time.

“Zoro!” yelled Jane but she did not receive any response.

“Zoro! Oi! Zoro!” asked Jane but Zoro was gone, locking the main bathroom door behind him,

\---------------------------------

After Jane was done showering she peeked through the door, looking for Zoro, she did not find him in the bathroom, she sighed and took the towel and closed the door quickly. She came out after drying herself up, covering herself in the same white towel. She looked around for clothes, her clothes were really gone,

“Shit!” muttered Jane under her breath and felt her cheeks warm with heat of blood rushing to her face, she knew she was blushing.

‘What do I do now?’ thought Jane and secured the towel on her frame more firmly before opening the bathroom door. She peeked out opening the door a little, nobody was there, Jane stepped out in the room and looked around to find a wardrobe open, she ran to it quickly to find some clothes. To the left side of wardrobe was a big mirror, she looked at her reflection and saw her scares covering her arms and shoulders, hers legs. Blush disappeared from her face, sorrow took its place, she looked away from her own reflection as she closed her eyes in frustration.

Suddenly she was wrapped in two strong warm arms as Zoro hugged her from back, she moved her hand to the towel securing it to her chest firmly. He kissed her on the left cheek, she was lifted off the ground and Zoro put her on the bed as he towered above her form. Her eyes were glassy but she soon regained her posture.

“Why you took my clothes?” Jane asked trying to sound normal,

“I had this fantasy, I really wanted to see you in towel!” came his flirty reply as he smirked, she felt his loving gaze on her. She sat up and looked away from him.

“Zoro I am ugly, don’t look at me like that, I am…” Jane whispered, but Zoro hauled her closer to him and shushed her,

“Hey, I already told you scars don’t matter! Not to me!” said Zoro softly,

“But..” protested Jane but Zoro stopped her by placing thumb on her lips,

“We had discussed it before! I told you, you actually should be proud of them! Not ashamed!”

“Zoro, its not that easy, you don’t know how…”

“Wait!” Zoro said as he started unbuttoning his shirt, she immediately looked away from him and closed her eyes.

“Look! Je! Look at me!” said Zoro as he cupped her face and made her face him. She looked at him but couldn’t help but gawk at his chest, she swallowed thickly as he took off his shirt sliding the fabric off his shoulders. Jane couldn’t take her eyes off him. That day she found out that not just his face and overall shape of body was attractive but every little thing about him was perfect. 

Zoro was really husky, honey-wheat colored skin, well defined taut muscles, well-toned chest and heavily built, muscle-bound physique. His torso was covered in many proud battle scars unlike hers abused ones, but the one was more daunting, a huge scar that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, cutting his beautiful torso in half diagonally. Her eyes were wide, eyebrows were shot up, lips slightly parted.

“Holy shit!” muttered Jane as her hand traveled to his scar, but she stopped it midair, her fingers mere millimeters away from his scar. She looked up from his chest to look at him, at his face. His wide forehead, prominent chin, strong jaw line, his deep green eyes felt very trusting and warm like a window to the soul, his eyebrows inner half of which was ached inside, his thin lips. His face was held forward, had a steady gaze on her.

“You are so beautiful Zoro!” whispered Jane overwhelmed, her eyes bored into his before her fingers actually touched him, he took her hand that was stalled in midair and led it to his scar and closed his eyes giving out a sigh when her hand touched his chest. She touched his scar and traced it from the shoulder to down the abdomen till it disappeared in his pants. She looked admiringly at his well-built chest and traced his every scar with her hands, closed her eyes and ran her slim hands on his chest as if memorizing. He drew her closer to him, held her in his arms and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. She felt herself melting in his embrace, by the time he pulled out she was not feeling awkward that her skin tainted with scars was open for him to see, her stiff frame had relaxed, Zoro noticed the change and smiled slightly,

“You promise you won’t hide your scars from me now?” whispered Zoro, pulling out slightly but his lips still touched hers,

“How many promises you want me to make in one day!” Jane asked smiling slightly.

He snorted at her reply,

“As many as it’s gonna take to make you mine!” whispered Zoro against her lips. Jane blushed and quickly hid her face in the crook of his neck, he had his hand on small of her back and other on back of her head which now moved to her towel,

“Okay towel girl, now find something to wear till I take shower or I am going to rip that towel off you!” Zoro mocked, tugging on her towel playfully.

“Hey! You were the one who took my stuff, you are thrice as big as me, how in the world I am to fit in yours” protested Jane pushing him away. He stood up and started taking off his remaining clothes, she bit her lip and looked away from him shaking her head as she made her way to the wardrobe,

“That’s your problem. You understand that is teasing Jane, I mean how am I supposed to behave or even think straight when you are roaming around in towel like that!” chided Zoro as he made his way inside the bathroom.

“Yeah?” yelled Jane and chuckled.

\---------------------------------------------------

When Zoro came out, he did not find her in the bedroom but he heard sound of cutlery in the living room and some odd music or something. He could not find his own t-shirt which he used to wear when at home. He changed into another pair of shorts and t-shirt before he made his way to living room.

He found Jane already drinking from a beer bottle, food was already on table, LCD screen was on and along with Xbox and she was playing the MASS EFFECT. She had his t-shirt and shorts on, in fact he was looking for the same pair that she had worn, he smirked at her form with loose fit clothes and shorts barely hanging on her skinny waist, he was quite bulky and muscly, there was no way in hell his shorts would have stayed on her waist. He snorted slightly at the thought but she looked so dam hot in those clothes, he could not help but grab her in crushing hug.

“You are squeezing me too tight! Can’t breathe!” said Jane playfully as she acted as if she was being choked while she was being held to his chest like she weighed nothing,

“Cant help it! You look so tempting in that!”

“Yeah? I look empty t-shirt, big boy!” mocked Jane,

“Nope, you look sexy in that t-shirt! But are you sure about those shorts, I have been wearing those before. Even the t-shirt, I was wearing it earlier this morning! Why didn’t you chose some fresh once!” asked Zoro taking seep from her bottle,

“I am not going to tell you why!” chided Jane, she stuck out her tongue at him while he was busy gawking her breast clearly giving out their sexy shape, modest tight round balls of mass, as the fabric of t-shirt clung to her body due to absence of her bra and the straps she always had been present around her chest to hide her bosom, she pushed him back playfully,

“You are staring!” whispered yelled Jane,

“Of course I am staring! I am supposed to stare Je! When was the last time I got a look at that amazing piece of work?” Zoro said smirking and stealing glance at her breast again,  

“Who the hell are you? And what the hell have you done with Zoro!” yelled Jane shyly, and snatched the bottle away from his hand,

“Hey! We are sharing! Gimmi that!” Zoro said as he grabbed her and sat her in his lap, she closed her mouth on his and gave the beer seep she had in her own mouth to him while in kiss. He hummed after gulping it,

“That is what I am talking!” said Zoro sneaking a hand inside the t-shirt, caressing her skin of her back sensually. She had adjusted to his touch, now a days she did not flinch or jerk away but enjoyed his touches.  

“Hungry?” asked Jane as she gulped from bottle, he could not help but lick her neck, she hummed at the feel of his lips on her neck and threw her head back, fluttering her eyes shut, he started eating her skin of neck and above collar bone, causing her groan in pleasure,

“As you can see, I have already started with my meal!” said Zoro as he scraped his teeth on her collarbone, she whimpered and backed away playfully,

“Jane?”

“Umm?”

“I know it’s not such a big deal and we are as good as together now, it’s also so old school but I wanted to ask you anyway!” he pulled out from her neck as he made her look at him, took bottle away from her hand, put it on table, he cleared his throat and looked into her excited eyes. She looked at him keenly, taking her bottom lip inside her mouth chewing on it a bit as she widen her eyes in excitement while he slipped one his hand inside the pockets of his shorts and pulled out something in his fist.

“Would you please be my girlfriend?” looking into her eyes asked Zoro quickly, offering her……


	17. Bitter Sweet!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro asks Jane to be his girlfriend and she replies with.....
> 
> Jane tells Zoro why she did not want Zoro to choose her as his GF,....
> 
> Sanji visits Galley la tower and story takes a new turn...  
> Please read, i don't want to ruin the suspense now!! :P

 

 

“Jane, I know it’s not such a big deal and we are as good as together now, it’s also so old school but I wanted to ask you anyway!” Zoro said and pulled out from her neck,

That made her look at him, he took the bottle from her hand, put it on table, he awkwardly cleared his throat

“What is it?” asked Jane, he looked into her excited eyes. Jane was curious what Zoro had on his mind, she saw him slipping his hand on his pocket, he took something out in his fist, offering the same to Jane as he finally spoke those words,

“JE! Would you please be my girlfriend?” asked Zoro offering her a ring, ring exactly same as his piercings on his left earlobe, Jane’s eyes widen ever so slightly at the object, she was quiet for quite a while and Zoro’s heart was speeding up,

For Zoro, it felt like forever till she finally looked at him with those brilliant blue orbs, they held love for him, she smiled slightly and then finally it came, her answer………..

Jane nodded mutely but cutely….

Zoro released the breath he had held for a while, she took the ring from his palm, she observed it for a silent minute or two and then hugged Zoro. When she pulled out, Zoro had a slight blush on his face, he looked away shying this time and that was so cute, Jane kissed him on his cheek quickly and that only made the shade go darker,

“I saw that you already had a piercing already…… so I thought this would be good idea, I wanted to gift you something good but no matter whatever I buy you would already have it! And I figured …..you are not the jewelry type, you are more like a girl with dragon tattoo so I ..” Zoro’s statement laced with awkwardness and blush was cut off by her lips connecting his, his hand went to back of her head, the kiss was innocent and short, she left his lips but her face was still held closer by his hand,

“if it’s not the Only the second kiss from you!” whispered Zoro against her lips,

“Keeping the count, are we?” Jane chided with raised eyebrow,

“I won’t if you do it more often, you know!” Zoro teased,

“Yeah??” said Jane playfully,

“I love you Je!!” whispered Zoro against her lips, she brought her hands up, held his handsome face in her palms, caressing his jawline with her thumb Jane whispered worriedly,

“Zo, as you have already brought it up, I want to tell you a few things…. before…. before we; …you know….proceed further.” Jane said awkwardly; she had furrowed her brows in worry and insecurity was clearly visible on her face, his hand now rested on small of her back and other was on her waist, he made some distance between their faces, what Jane spoke was quite unexpected at this moment, he looked at her face and found the expressions that he hated to see on her face,

“Jane, do I need to spell it out for you?” asked Zoro narrowing eyes on her worried face, he liked the way she held his face, he put his palm on back on her hand which was on his cheek,

“Zoro just listen to me, jus..”  and that was again, Zoro did not like when she sounded like that, worried, unsure, insecure………so, Jane’s worried statement got cut off Zoro’s sincere one,

“Nothing you can say to make me change my mind about it now, you don’t have to worry about me leaving, that is, until you yourself throw me out of your life. If you don’t want me around, you just have to say it, I will go but not without protest.” said Zoro raising his eyebrow,

“That is very nice thing to say and I know you do mean it! But, Zoro, honestly, I feel that……. you should know what you are getting yourself into and I do want a serious relationship, I can’t let you go once I let you be in here!” said Jane keeping her fist on her heart.

“You think you have something there…………. that can make me hate you now?” whispered Zoro,

“Let us find out!” whispered Jane back, Zoro sighed in defeat,

“Je, it’s not necessary! I know enough about you to love you for lifetime I already told you that! and whatever it is, its gonna come out when it should!” said Zoro putting an arm around her waist to keep her on his lap comfortably,

“You don’t know how bad that can get Zoro!!” said Jane pulling her hands off his face, she curled her fingers into fists and dropped her shoulders,

“That again??” scolded Zoro,

“Please!” pleaded Jane, her face was sad, and Zoro simply hated that fact,

“Hey! You are going to be okay right?” whispered Zoro, Jane nodded and started speaking,

“Zoro, as you know, I attended military school before the Grand line high and I was sent on a war mission when I was mere 15. Leaving a double life, false identity, wrong age….gender, you know what I mean!! Of course Shanks and Mihawk made it happen, they gave me this crazy intense training for five years after I requested them to train me when I was kid. Somehow, I had matured earlier in every way, I was so cocky and so impatient to test myself and my strength, some people treated me as child prodigy, some of them …..rather…..most of them called me freak when they found out who I really was.” Said Jane looking down at her hands,

“I can say that it’s nearly impossible to acquire these many skills at your age, I still sometimes don’t believe that myself! And yes, that is somewhat scary but in the account of what you have gone through and the way you have been training and working out for ages; it’s hardly a surprise. Dracule Mihawk himself had been your mentor and Shanks, he is frigging unreachable and unbeatable, and as if these two weren’t enough; Ben, Smoker, Yassap, Roo, Kuzan?? These guys are fucking legends Je! Those who think you are a freak either don’t know you the way they should or they just are shitting retarded.” said Zoro raising his eyebrow. Hearing Zoro speak like that Jane relaxed her mind somewhat but started speaking again,

“Thanks, I know you would understand.”

Zoro shook his head,

“Zoro, this war, my first one, I was a kid practically speaking, things weren’t easy and trust me they never are, it went even worse; my superior messed up, he was such a chicken, he led us in the wrong place, the prick just wouldn’t admit that our lot had made it to a wrong location, some of us tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen, we could not just disobey the direct orders from our commanding officer, he ordered us to fire and we did.”

“Bastard! What then?” asked Zoro curiously,

“We ended up killing wrong bunch of people in a miscalculated firing and range of terrible explosions. In the rage, I knocked him out cold, took over the situation myself and I don’t know what was going on inside me, but we moved on, we did complete mission. I had to face trial by court-martial for that. But people couldn’t do much as the mission was a success.”

“I don’t see why you felt need to tell me all this!” asked Zoro confused, he was worried about Jane’s breathing, which was uneven, Zoro did not want Jane to go into panic attack, but she was sharing her mind with Zoro, he was happy for that. Jane still was looking down, as if she was ashamed and couldn’t just get over that feeling,

“Zoro, I cannot forget their pleading faces! They had their hands up! After the whole thing was taken care of, we found dead women, children! They had been crying! We fired at unarmed harmless people, we killed the innocent Zoro! I have blood of the innocent on my hands.” Whispered Jane with voice full of shame and fear, he could tell she regretted what she did, he caressed her cheek as he spoke,

“Hey! Look at me! It was bad, I understand! I can tell that it was or rather it is very taxing for you but I can’t blame you, you are not a murderer Jane! You should not burden yourself with that thing now! Though it is not an excuse but you probably saved more lives than you took!” said Zoro trying to sooth her,

“I wish I could take back those bullets Zoro, if I could just knock him out sooner!” whispered Jane sounding very sad and regretful,

“What’s done is done! So, the Red Dragons hun? You are what now, opted out? You left them?” asked Zoro getting curious.

“No. I am still one of them. I…..we , our lot, a special division in SOF, we take up suicidal missions, a death squad, I fought three wars with Red Army and fifteen rescue missions one being the Mareijoa’s in which I found Jason. Shanks! Zoro, he is the Red haired Shanks, the leader of whole Army. He is one of four people who rule the new world, four emperors as they call them.”

“Yeah? Emperor hun? So, he is more influential than Mihawk! Shit! Doesn’t sound like one! He is way too laid back and funny. He also sound so soft if it is for you”

“Yeah! He is to me. He too lives a double life, you think a man like him would work under anybody? He is a free bird! You know how Luffy is, Shanks is thousand times him! Shanks can get scary! You don’t want to see him pissed! Definitely don’t want to see him pissed at you! You can say he is one of most feared person in the world! He is the head of the Red Army, rather Red Dragons. Our tactical unit is just a part if his division. Not many people know that.  I still go on the missions when they call me. When Red Army calls I go, you understand?? I will go if they call, I can’t guarantee that I would be with you 24by7 for all 365 days of every year of my life.” asked Jane giving him a wary look.

“Well, okay then, you have to stay when it’s 366th.” Chided Zoro,

“What?” Jane asked with disbelief,

“Just Kidding! I know that you are a soldier, you have a duty for your people, I respect that fact, I won’t anchor you down anywhere and I am fine with it Jane. By the way, is there something that you actually can’t do!” Zoro asked in amused voice, Zoro did want to change her sad mood, ease her tensed mind . Jane sighed playfully at her lover, then she made funny face as she spoke,

“Like thousand and twenty three other things. C’mon Zoro, It’s just some fighting and dancing that I am good at, may be some Music and racing, bikes and cars and stuff, may be little gaming too but other than that, I don’t know shit about anything else…. I suck at cooking, sculpting a tiny sword out of rock like you did, painting, chores, household stuff, shopping, gardening, convincing people, letter writing, speech, socializing and Shit!! I can go on and on….and …!” Zoro cut her rambling off by pinching her cheek playfully,

“You are insane!” said Zoro snorting. Jane sighed again and then closed her eyes,

“What is it now? What you want to tell me?” asked Zoro softly,

“Zoro, you already know about Lucci, we were together for a while and all, I can say that he knows mostly everything about me and that thought makes me sick sometimes….he …. he also was my first and I ..” Zoro’s eye brow twitched at that sentence and he cut Jane off suddenly,

“Jane, we are not discussing some business proposal and we are definitely not discussing that! I don’t care about your first or second, I want you and you are mine from now on! And that is that!” Zoro said in voice laced with irritation, Jane sighed in defeat before she continued, she looked down embarrassed, closing her eyes,

“There was nobody else ever! It’s Just you now, after he dumped me!” whispered Jane sadly, Zoro opened his mouth to speak but she continued,

“I only had one person in my life! I thought you might have figured it out by now! I am not the type to sleep around” said Jane in low voice, Zoro gritted his teeth at himself for behaving rude to Jane, he immediately cupped her chin to make her look at him,

“I am sorry Je! I didn’t mean to sound it like that!” said Zoro apologetically,

“Let it go!” whispered Jane still avoiding his gaze, Zoro felt guilty for making her sadder like that,

“No, I really am sorry! It’s just that, you mention him and it gets to my head, I don’t know, I just can’t stand you say his name! I just want to beat the shit out of him! And, after that day, when I think back about it….we practically ran away from him, I feel like frigging coward for that! Don’t make me run away again!”

“We were not ready for the fight! Rather I was not! I couldn’t risk your life because I had a physco Ex, I am sorry Zoro!” said Jane nearly in tears,

“You could have just told me about it then! You didn’t tell me shit! We have to face it one way or other! I am not afraid of anything and I don’t want you to worry about him getting at you anymore!! I will be there for you!” said Zoro brushing the back of his fingers on her cheek,

“It’s not that I am scared of him, his sudden appearance had weakened me emotionally, I could not have fought him and I know you are not afraid of anything but I did not want him to mess with what we have now! You don’t know how he gets!!”

“Enough with him!! Jane, why are you telling this all deliberately, I won’t judge you, you should have some faith in me, you don’t need to clarify it like that. Whatever happened, it was in the past and I don’t think that you knowingly made any mistakes, in fact, that is why they are called like that…..the  mistakes! Je, we all have demons in our closet so I am fine with whatever is that, I don’t want to see this pain on your face, the way you are telling me these things, I can see it in your eyes that you suffer as you tell. So don’t! ” said Zoro worried,

“I have to get this off my chest, I have to tell you and you said that I have to talk to avoid panic attacks so this is me talking! There is one thing! Worse than others, one thing I would never willingly share with anybody, in fact I haven’t shared it with anybody yet, at least not the way that I am about to, with you! Shanks knows because he has seen them and so did ..” Jane stopped abruptly before mentioning Lucci’s name,

“Je?” asked Zoro raising an eyebrow, placing his hand behind her neck, he massaged her a little,  

“You never asked how I got these scars Zoro!” Jane said in unsure voice, her worried unsteady blue orbs met his calm focused green ones.

“Look, I want to know okay! But not at the cost of pain in your heart! They don’t matter, what matter is you get over it, I want to know so that I can help you overcome it!”

Jane gripped fabric of his t-shirt in her fists and closed her eyes, as what she was about to tell him was difficult to spill out,

“Zoro! …….When I was kid, before Mihawk or rather Shanks took me in, I lived in the east blue, a village, where there was biggest oil factory of the whole east blue. I remember very few things of my childhood, the smell of that oil, face of my old man, the room I was locked into, the backyard, the pain……..”

Zoro had nothing to say, he just did not know what to say….Jane continued,

“I was not an orphan, I had parents but they were as good as non-existent for me! My………..my old man was scary…….. sick sadist prick and……he……..he used to beat me up shitless and then abuse the injuries after I start healing…...he liked blood, he used to get off on it I guess..…these scars….[sigh]……… he gave me these scars. ……., he wouldn’t let me live, he wouldn’t let me die, he never let me leave, I ….I ran away, twice, could not make it out of the place till Shanks ……..Shanks found me in the forest, half dead….due to blood loss and starvation..….he and Mihawk fought the people who were sent to search for me and bring me back!”

Zoro brought her closer, secured her in his arms firmly, he was about to speak but she continued,

“Name is Hisashi….….He called me thief; he called me vulgar names, made me bleed because he hated me. He …..he referred his own wife as a whore, made me speak like him, made me cuss my mom and myself, just to sooth his ears, and I did it, for months, ….” Jane said in low and shameful voice, she had her eyes down, her breathing was heavy and uneven, he ran his hand on her back soothingly,

“Your own father?” asked Zoro in disbelief, she nodded without looking up before she continued,

“I guess so……..I doubt ….he was ....if he was my own father? I mean I don’t even know! I was too little to understand all that, my father or not! He told me my name was Sana! Some damn name he gave me or was it real I don’t know! And my mother! I just remember her saying something weird in my ear, countless times, just my name! My old name! I don’t even remember her face, I don’t even remember how my mom looked like, how it felt to be in her arms, how it felt when she would run her hands through my hair, they are just some blurry images……” said Jane trying to sound impassive but tears escaping her eyes,

“Je!” Whispered Zoro worriedly, he was sad for Jane,

“…. I just remember her going away, running away… leaving me there; I was locked up, she just took off or that is what he told me………maybe he killed her …..maybe she is still alive and well……may be she really ran away from him…….I just don’t know, he thought I was not his child! Maybe I really was not! He……he may have thought my mother had some other guy in her life or something so ………” Jane said in hoarse voice, he could see she felt so unsafe, she had shoulders dropped down, her look was miserable, but Zoro cut her statements off, tightening his arms around her form possessively and firmly.

“Tell me you that made him pay! Tell me you did something to make him understand what he made you suffer through!” asked Zoro, she scrunched her nose at the painful memories and looked at him shaking her head replying him ‘no’,

“I didn’t get a chance! At first, I didn’t want to go there, I didn’t want to see his smug face, I avoided the east blue for many years. Shanks said that revenge would not buy me any peace so I let it pass; I cried, had nightmares for years, Shanks would take care of it! They stopped…. because of Shanks, the Panic attacks stopped! Shanks said we should not carry our revenge for years and definitely should not pass it to anybody. But Lucci……. He made me tell him about the scars and he convinced me to go and beat him up…………. but he was dead by the time I made up my mind to face him, about three years back.” whispered Jane with red puffy glassy eyes.

“Jane, don’t, just don’t think about it okay! You already have overcome everything! So just hell with him!” said Zoro trying to sooth her, she again looked down smiling bitterly…….

“Yah! I was just lucky that……….that he did not rape me……. like…..like he did to others, I guess…. he used to say that if I were a little older, he would put me to some real use. He kicked me in guts, stomped on my stomach sometimes,  I don’t know much but…..[Jane swallowed thickly] ….. my insides are not…. not good…..almost fried actually”

“Jane don..” Zoro tried to speak but Jane put a hand on his mouth as she continued,

“Zoro,..…….. I may never be able to give birth to a child, they say I am sterile Zoro….I…….I mean I still have that monthly blood cycles sometimes, or whatever the hell they call it……… but I don’t feel any pain in there or I don’t know! There is some shit doctors keep talking about my messed up woman system. You know what I am saying?” asked Jane with shame in her eyes and her horrified expressions made Zoro’s heart heavy,

Zoro felt bad for Jane and the damage and pain she had to go through at such a younger age, he felt sad the way she had gone through horrible stuff in her childhood. Jane looked like she felt so vulnerable telling these things, bringing her walls down completely so as to let Zoro in.  He put his hand on back of her neck and his expressions were not of pity but of passionate love he felt for her, he felt her sorrow in her eyes, he wanted to take her pain away,

“I am so sorry that you had to go through that, Je, I wish I could make him pay for what he did to you! I wish I could share the pain. I wish I could just make it all go away!” Zoro whispered and kissed her on lips, kiss was quick but before Jane could continue, Zoro spoke up in low but sincere voice,

“You know Je, before I met you, I thought I was gay and I thought that I liked guys because I never liked anybody but Sanji, I never felt attracted to a girl before. So, there was no question of me having any children. And tell the truth, I really have never given it a thought. Now that I have you, we may as well have a chance! And even if we can’t but we feel like having one, we can always adopt. You were adopted, so was I. we turned out to be just fine!” Zoro said sincerely, he looked calm and his voice was soothing her,

“That’s it! Se…Seriously? Zoro you are okay with everything I just told you?” Jane whispered with worried face,

“So, you are done? Eh…and I thought more was coming, I mean you did say that it was something bad, didn’t you?” Said Zoro smirking,

“That was all freaky and bad stuff Zoro!” Jane said narrowing her eyes in Zoro’s smirking face,

“Freaky? Nah! I actually thought you might tell me something really weird like…maybe…. you are turn into a blood sucking monster in the night or you are from krypton or something or maybe you raped somebody… Oh! Shit!!! that actually sounds so sexy! I mean who would not want to be raped by you!” said Zoro mischievously but Jane jabbed him and he expressed mock hurt,

“Zoro!” Jane yelled to scold him but he brought her face closer to his placing his finger in her lips to make her stop talking!

“I told you baby, nothing you can say to make me change my mind!” Zoro said giving her quick peck on lips, she looked at him and bit on her lower lip harshly, her teeth bored into soft pink plum mass. Zoro put his thumb on her lip to make her stop biting her lip,

“Did you just call me baby?” Jane whispered shyly,

“Yeah! I did! That is what boyfriends do I guess!” said Zoro softly, unfurrowing his brows, that permanent scowl on his face had dissolved and he smiled, she smiled back and traced his un-furrowed eyebrows, he looked different without that scowl, which was always present on his face. He looked even more handsome.

She bent forward to touch her forehead onto his, gave a sigh as her breathing evened out, she smiled and she brought her slim hands up to hold his handsome face in her hands.

“So, you are mine now?” whispered Jane with her cheeks blanketing in pinkish blush, Zoro smiled wider,

“Oh God Yes, I am. And I do not want it any other way!” whispered Zoro back with slight blush on his own face, Jane was caressing his face as they kept looking into each other’s eyes for minutes.

After some minutes Zoro spoke up, his voice was clam and deep,

“I have something to tell you too!”

“Tell me Zoro!”

“You heard about davy back fights and those the world govt. organizes the ‘Best of 170 nations’, you know someone named Demon hunter, the swordsman!” Jane blinked and pulled out suddenly,

“Yeah! Wait! East blue, you are him?” said Jane excitedly,

Zoro raised his eyebrow smirking at her,

“Holy shit! You look so cool like that! Oh! That sword in your mouth and bandana covering half of your face, your outfit, you look so fierce, so damn sexy! Oh God! Never would have imagined” Jane was excited,

“Gee thanks! Never took you for a fan Robocop! Wait! Did you just say sexy?” Zoro cocked his eyebrow and smirked at Jane, she shook her head and spoke quickly.

“Ahem…..Ahem………. So that explains those scars!”

“Almost, but you want to know how I got that big one?” Jane nodded dumbly waiting for him to reply,

“Hawkeye Mihawk, the great black sword!” replied Zoro but Jane’s eyes went wide, she did not know what to say, she shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment.

“Shit! What was he thinking? What the hell were you doing Zo! He tried to kill you? You were almost cut in half! How the hell did you even survive that sword! Why didn’t you tell me that before?” exclaimed Jane,

“You didn’t ask!” mocked Zoro,

“Smart ass!” said narrowing her eyes,

“We fought Arlong’s mafia gang after that, Luffy and Sanji were also there, I had cut up 16 men in his own hideout, Luffy took down Arlong! I would have done it myself, had not he opened up my chest wound Mihawk so graciously had imparted upon me with his mighty black sword no long ago. So, you calling me murder now? Though none of them actually died of my sword……I guess……”

“Luffy took down Arlong? Why you guys fought that sadistic bastard in the first place? Didn’t they have police there?”

“We did it for Nami Je!! They forced her to work with them, rather work for them. Her whole town was his territory, he was nothing but a nuisance, bribing cops and all, he was untouchable so we had to fight him and beat him in his own game, now all of them are in prison!”

“I never would have thought!” whispered Jane a little dazzled,

“Yeah! We all had our share of fights, we all also have our terrible pasts to live with. Je, you have gone through most dangerous and quite disturbing situations but it’s all was in past. But baby, you are not alone now, I am with you!” Zoro said in deep husky voice,

“Zoro, these all things were the reasons I said that day that I was not good for you! I have no secrets anymore. Though not in details but I have told you everything that I think could damage the relationship. There still are many things you will find about me, but they are not as bad. They are acceptable!” said Jane thinking about herself and situations she had been in,

“Nobody is perfect Jane, but you are born awesome, now who needs the perfect one, that would rather be boring!” said Zoro teasing her,  

Jane smacked him playfully, looked at the ring in her hand and made a childish excited face,

“It’s perfect gift! C’mon, help me put it already!” said Jane finally smiling genuinely, being her usual self. Zoro took it and fixed the ring on her earlobe,

“Looks bigger in your ear, I had it for the fourth piercing I thought of having once but I ran out of money at that time and Nami would not lend me for it! So I chucked it, thought I would do it sometime later and completely forgot till the day I moved here. I found it kept in a box when I was packing my stuff and thought of giving it to you!” 

“Three looks cooler Zoro! Matches your three swords! Keep it that way! And you can forget about this one now! It’s now mine!” Jane said smirking as he secured the ring on her ear lobe.

“These are special, Kuina passed them on to me, I mean when she was still her original self. Though they are not meant to be worn in ear, I had no other way to keep them closer. It has some traditional meaning. Its said, the one who leads the family or the dojo has to carry it on the clothing when they go to the battle. Local legend says to carry it when a worrier goes to the battle. But nobody follow those kinds of things anymore, no battles are fought with mere swords and arrows so they got forgotten. Kuina had these with her before I was adopted, she gave it to me when I was decided to inherit the title of the master, she had asked me to keep them with me so ..”

“You sure you just want to give it away to me! It has a historical and emotional meaning to you Zoro! You should be holding on to it. It is even more than just a keepsake” Jane said worried as she tried to pull it out of her ear,

“Hey don’t!” said Zoro as he stopped Jane from taking it out.

“These are meant to be shared with whom you would never fight against, that is your soul mate or your child or your parent! My father has one. Kuina has one too. This one is yours.” Zoro said securing the ring in the place again.

“So, you are not fighting against me ever?”

“My sword won’t ever touch you or cut you! I won’t raise my sword against you!”  She smiled and he brought her closer, she rested her head on his chest, sighed as she put her arms around him,

“Why didn’t you embed it in sword hilt then dumbo? Simple!”

“Oh! Never thought of it, good idea!”

“I know a sword maker, I will take you there!”

“Okay deal! Jane……….um….look, I ………I have never been with like this …and like this with a girl before………so you have to tell me if I do anything wrong or if I do anything you don’t like okay?” Zoro said with silver of awkwardness,

“You are great Zoro! You are old school but I like that! Really! Don’t worry!” Jane said smirking, Zoro was developing a slight blush, he felt Jane rubbing her cheek on his chest,

“Jane, Law…….”

“Law what?”

“He said that I am a demi sexual or something! I don’t understand that shit all together but what I understood is that I won’t feel sexually attracted to other people, hell, I may never feel this way with anybody else. Though this all does mean that I have limited options, I wanted to know……..I am not forcing you into anything, am I?”

“Idiot! Why you had to ask it like that! I know about it, he told me even before he told you that! Forget what he said! That makes you even that more valuable anyways!” Jane said winking at him playfully. Zoro scratched the back of his head, Jane looked at his face which had funny expressions, and then it hit her,

“Shit! Shit!! Shit!! Zo, does that mean you still are a virgin?”

Zoro’s face went beet red, he looked away completely, Jane couldn’t believe she asked him that, she thought he must have had done something, at least tried something sometime. People do all kinds of crazy stuff but he did not, he was just like her. Law was right! This was so cute and his flushed face proved the thing just the more!

“Wow! I wish I could take your picture now! You look so cute Zoro! Oopps!”

He suddenly slammed her down on the couch and straddled her, pinned her hands above her head, she gave a him a raised eyebrow but he attacked her lips giving no time to adjust to her new position, he tried to be aggressive and dominate her but that was not like him, the kiss started out as impatient and aggressive but soon turned into a slow and sensuous as always. He pulled out and she smiled at him sweetly.

“I don’t look cute! Don’t say that got it!!” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on her seductively, he left her hands and he caught her lips again, she stretched her arms further, arching her back as he touched her back but her hand touched something and the noise snapped them out. The things put on the chair had fallen down and she turned her head to find her cigarette lighter had fallen off the chair on ground.

“Yeah...……. I brought all your things from the car. Phone, key card, devices, your tab, umm…..that file and data card.” Zoro said pointing to the chair where all the items were put.

“That is the O’hara case file; you will look into it, the first thing tomorrow morning, after the work-out, no excuses!”

“Yes Captain!” chided Zoro.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had food and wine while chatting and watching News, Zoro’s date was turning out to be amazing, Jane had long since experienced something like this, in fact it was more affectionate and lovelier than any date she been on with Lucci. As far as Zoro was concerned, this was the first date he had in his whole life, not that he never wanted to but he never got to be with anybody, he wanted to have Sanji as a date with him but it never worked out with him in that way.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro climbed the big king size bed in his lavish bedroom, it was amazingly comfortable, Jane already was under covers, she was switching on her cellphone which had been switched off by her before she went dark few hours ago, he spooned her from behind and took her small slim frame in his arms again.

“I got to admit, this bed is ten times comfier than my futon and if you are going to be here every night, this thing is going to be my favorite place to be at!” Zoro whispered in her ear. She chuckled as he made her turn on back, he came on top of her, she dropped the cell phone on bed somewhere, sneaking arms around his neck as he claimed her lips in a passionate kiss, she responded as passionately matching his speed.

He ran is hand up her spine, rested on back of her neck adjusted angle to deepen the kiss, in response she tugged on his hair on back of his head, her eyes fluttered closed, his other hand ran down from her waist, caressing her hips it went down further to her thighs. Jane slipped her other hand inside his t-shirt as she started feeling his powerful torso and taut muscles under her palm. He gripped her thigh, moved his leg a little as he coaxed her to part her legs apart, he put his thigh between hers, rubbed her sensitive part with his thigh and his knee on her pussy drawing out a sensual moan of his name from her.

He broke the kiss wishing to hear her moaning his name again, her skinny form shivering at his touches and making him hungrier. Zoro curled his fingers in her messy soft golden blonde hair, passionately placed kisses on her jaw line taking her sweet skin between his lips, sucking and nipping as he went, his lips travelled to her earlobe, nibbled on it softly. Overwhelmed with his kisses, she threw her head beck arching back even more, her chest connected to his firm muscles smashing her soft tits into his torso, making him groan in want. His hand on her thigh skid down further, he slipped his hand inside the loose shorts from downwards, taking it up with his hand he groped her thigh feeling her skin under his calloused hand. His knee rubbed against her clothed womanhood,

“Z…Zorooo….nuughnnnnnn!” moaned Jane digging her fingers in his back from inside his the t-shirt when groped her ass cheek and sucked on her neck, she tugged on his hair and t-shirt to make him kiss her, she led the kiss this time and Zoro lustily obliged, he parted lips letting her taking the control, he allowed her tongue to please him, he could not help but moan as she parted her thighs and wrapped her long legs around his hips, his half erect member now rubbing on her slightly wet pussy covered with the shorts. Her phone ringed loudly disturbing their love moment but Zoro didn’t let go of her lips.

“Unnngh!” Jane protested and pushed him back, unwrapping her legs, he reluctantly broke the kiss and grunted at her phone giving it a death glare, she stretched out her arm and looked at her cellphone and sighed, Zoro kissed her neck and her shoulder for some more before he pulled out and crawled down, he pulled her t-shirt little up, shorts a little down, he could see more of her milky white skin, her delicious curve of hip bone,

“I am gonna kill whoever is that!” whispered Zoro before he busied himself kissing her skin of stomach and waistline while Jane started talking on phone.

“Yeah!  Ben?”

“Don’t Yeah me? Where the hell have you been all evening?” yelled Ben Beckman, but Zoro already had sent Jane into the oblivion,

Zoro sucked on her hip bone pulling her shorts down a little, completely neglecting her scars and she drew in a sharp breath fisting the blanket harshly in her hand as she quivered at the sinful pleasure, she forced her mouth shut containing a moan, she felt Zoro smirking against her skin…

“Jane! You there kid?” asked Ben, Zoro let go of her skin of hip as he kissed her treasure trail now, she moved her hand to his face trying to make him stop teasing her crease, but he gripped it and kept kissing anyway, Jane could not open her mouth because she knew, if she tried to speak she would moan Zoro’s name for sure, finally Jane blinked herself to reality when she felt Zoro breaking away from her lower abdomen, he went up the belly instead of going down the hips,

“Um..…I was….mmm..…I” Jane could hardly speak as she was now being teased with Zoro’s tongue in her belly button, as he swirled his tongue on her sensitive part and could not think straight to form a sentence, she was barely containing her moans,

“Why are you shuttering! Boke!!” huffed Ben,

“I am sleepy that’s it. Um….ahem…….What happened? You okay?” managed Jane to ask in awkward voice as Zoro pulled out from her sensitive spot, smirking at her flushed face and silently panting chest. He started kissing her stomach skin as he caressed her thighs with his hands, his mouth making his way up inside her t-shirt slowly, 

“I need to talk to you!” said Ben,

Jane had now arched her back, curled toes as his hand groped her ass and other hand was on small of her back supporting her arched frame,

“What? Nu.. Now?” Jane almost gave a gasp when she felt Zoro’s tongue tracing her lowest rib from midsection towards her back.

“Why are you sounding like that kid? I have been trying to reach you since last few hours. The hell is with you eh?”

“Sorry! I..”

“Anyway…..look, I wanted to see you but not now. Let’s meet after the workout session tomorrow but not in the office or at your place nor mine for that matter, somewhere where Mihawk won’t hear us talk and won’t know us meet. It’s about Shanks.” Said Ben,

At the mention of Shanks’ name, Jane’s eyelids flew open snapping her out of the pleasure she was getting drunk on, due to Zoro’s sinful mouth working on her skin. Jane shot up using her elbows as support and focused on Ben’s voice. Zoro looked at her, narrowed his eyes on cellphone seeing her expressions change all of a sudden, he stopped teasing her skin and let her talk as he rested his head on his palm.

“What about Shanks?” asked Jane in serious voice.

“I can’t see him mopping like that anymore and I am due in the New world tomorrow morning, the Army needs me. I need to tell you something before I go, you are only person who can talk Mihawk into it. Look, I have a flight to catch at 9, I need to talk to you before that! Where do we meet?” asked Ben,

“You leaving?”

“Yeah! And you are seeing me before 8”

“Okay, let us do it at Zoro’s. Mihawk won’t ever know what we talk about, just avoid John spotting you come here. If he saw you coming, Mihawk will know! And is Shanks okay? I haven’t talk to him since morning!” asked Jane,

“He is not okay since forever kid. I will tell you everything, hope you can help that idiot, he is hell of a stubborn ass to deal with. _Mattak!_  Something came up in the new world, maybe we would soon go at war, we may need him at his best and he is behaving like a 12 year old, sulking around, that fool!”

“What I can’t figure out is why he is so mad at him this time? I am the reason they fought over all right. I tried to confront him but he won’t let me in, won’t talk, won’t tell me anything, I was so pissed I left him alone and went fuming my head out that day!” said Jane dropping her head on pillow and sighed massaging her temple. Zoro crawled up her form, towering above her head giving her curios look, raising his eyebrow at her,

“Hmph! He sent that greenet to pick you up! I heard, he took a bullet from you!” Jane smiled slightly at the memory,

“He has a name, it’s Zoro! And yes that was a blank!” Jane said slightly smiling at Zoro and caressing Zoro’s cheek with her free hand,

“Anyways, tell me where is this kid’s apartment?”

“Oh! It’s 40th floor, second on left.” Said and Zoro mouthed ‘Who is coming over now?’

“How the hell a newbie got on the 40th?” exclaimed Ben sounding irritated, she shook her head mouthing ‘nobody’,

“He was a top scorer and Mihawk allotted it not me!” said Jane pinching Zoro’s nose playfully, he moved away from her and went to his original position resting his head on her belly, Jane’s hand went to play with his short cropped green hair,

“Hate those! Good night kid!” said Ben, Jane snorted at his statement,

“Yeah I know! Seeya!” said Jane as she hanged up and sighed,

She looked at her phone, there were 54 texts in her inbox. She sighed again as she was about to lock the screen, a notification popped up with alert of multimedia message, the sender was unknown as it said the private number, she opened it to find photos of Sanji and Zoro together, Sanji appearing drunk, one picture showed Zoro kissing the blonde with his hands on Sanji’s face, the way Zoro held Sanji, keeping the blonde close to himself; Jane’s eyes went red from anger and frustration, she fought back an urge to grit her teeth but scrunched her noose.

That made her give a shaky breath, her heart sank feeling heavy with sudden pang jealousy, she felt horrible with the thought of possessiveness washing over her, she felt the burning feeling inside her, she quickly lock closed the screen, put mobile away and scowl formed on her pretty face.

She knew those photos were the older once, backdated, she already knew Zoro had tried to get Sanji to come around, he had liked him for many days, hell! He waited for Sanji to come around and wanted him, even she had wanted Zoro to choose Sanji over her still she couldn’t help but feel jealous.

“Oi!” said Zoro, looking up, trying to grab her attention but Jane was deep in her thoughts,

‘So, that is what Sanji must have felt saw us kissing on that day! Bad feeling! Very bad! Heart shattering! Shit! I knew about them, I knew they also had gotten intimate! I must not feel bad, I know, but seeing that! I just can’t stand it now! Shit!!! Sanji! He must have been feeling hurt knowing that Zoro had chosen me over him. Wait! Did Zoro tell him yet? This must be Lucchi’s work. Only he would try to drive me away from Zoro. He must have thought that Zoro had not told me or something. I can’t lose Zoro!’ Jane thought,

Zoro crawled up again, he put his hands on both sides of her, slowly slumped over her form putting himself on her,

“Hey! What is it? Where are you? hun?” asked Zoro snapping her out of her thoughts,

“Nothing! I was…..its just………..chuck it…come here” said Jane and she hugged him possessively, he hugged her back but he knew something had made her off after the call ended.

“What is it? Tell me!”

Jane just shook her head still in hug, not letting Zoro go,

“Tell me! What did you see on that cellphone after you hanged up? Is it about Shanks? Do you need to go to meet someone now? You want to call Shanks? I already texted him that I had found you and I am taking you with me.” said Zoro. She shook her head and smiled,  

“It’s not that!” said Jane closing her eyes,

“Babe, something is bothering you! Why won’t you tell me? Is it about Lucci then?” asked Zoro leaning his forehead on hers, she opened her eyes to look into his, he wrapped arms around her waist as he made her turn on her side so both they lay on their sides looking into each other’s eyes, resting heads on pillow, she looked away, sighed sadly

“Zoro don’t get mad at me but, did you tell Sanji about us getting together?” asked Jane in an awkward voice, Zoro closed his eyes in frustration at the mention of Cook’s name, he pulled back from her, withdrew his hands to himself as he clenched his fists, making her feel empty all of a sudden, her eyes saddened further and he turned to lay on his back facing at the ceiling, he sighed in a frustration that Jane could easily tell,

“Sorry!” whispered Jane looking away from him,

“Why? Baby why? Why you act as if he is my wife and you are the extra marital affair? I mean, you sound like I am cheating on him with you. He means nothing more than a friend now, I told you many times over that I love you, I liked him but never bonded with him, not like this, not like what I have with you, nowhere near it. Now, I have no intention of giving him any chances with me whatever he may feel for me now because it’s very clear as crystal that I am in love with you. No matter what he does now, he is never coming back in my life and yes, I have told him this and yes, he confessed that he loves me. He even has stopped texting me. Would you please get over this, now?” said Zoro in irritated tone, his lips forming a frown, as he looked at ceiling with brows furrowed in scowl but had gripped her wrist as if to make sure she won’t run off.

“I am sorry. It’s just that………. he had talked with me about this, he wanted me to!...... Actually he wanted me not to accept your proposal till he figures out his feelings for you. He came clean and apologized to me, he wanted to apologies to you too, he asked me to talk you into having a conversation with you.” Jane whispered as she did not want to lie or keep anything from him.

Zoro opened his eyes, thought for a minute or two, Jane was looking down, feeling embarrassed, Zoro sighed in frustration again for making her feel yet more embarrassed, he laced his fingers with hers.

“When? When did this happen?” asked Zoro squeezing her hand gently,

“That day when I got a panic attack on beach, just before that! Remember him asking to talk to me privately..” Jane tugged on his t-shirt with her free hand, looking at him warily as she thought she had angered him beyond repair,

“That bastard! How dare he do something like that?” Zoro said gritting his teeth holding Jane’s hand in his own, over his chest.

“He wanted to fight for you, he did nothing wrong. I would have fought for you if I had to….to get you back if I were him, I would have done everything I could in my capacity to win you back. He asked for fair chance, I wanted to give him one. At that time, I also had thought that I wasn’t good enough, I kind of still think that I am not a smart choice for you, so I had thought back then that you should know all your options, but……….but……….. I can’t lose you now, I can’t let him have you. I am way too much involved now Zoro, or maybe I always was, I should not have given him a chance at you at all, I feel possessive……. the thought of letting you go itself scares the shit out of me!”

Zoro opened his eyes as his heart swelled with happiness at her innocent and lovely confession, he turned his head to look at Jane’s brilliant blue orbs, her eyes, her face and her voice was wary.  Zoro had felt himself floating on highest cloud in the sky, he felt like he couldn't ask for more when he heard her trembling voice declaring she felt possessive over him. She gave him an apologetic look but pulled her closer sneaking his arm under her, he yanked her to his side reducing distance between them to zero again.

“ _Baka!_ You care for everybody! Everybody but yourself! I am not going anywhere! I might actually thank him making you feel possessive over me.” smirked Zoro and Jane’s wary look changed to shy one as she stuffed her face in his side putting her hand around his torso. He smiled slightly taking her hand in his, resting it on his chest and continued looking up ceiling,

“Mind if I see your phone?” asked Zoro.

“Unlocks with S4502M” came Jane’s muffled voice.

“And you okay with that?”

“Why not!”

“Anyways, you have many things to worry about now, don’t think about the Cook, okay? I am not going anywhere. On the contrary, I won’t let you go anywhere! Got that?” scolded Zoro.

“I ruined the mood!” said Jane and sighed,

“Your phone did!” said Zoro grunting as he made soothing circles on her back with his right hand which held her to him while he had his left hand was tucked below his head,

“You want to know how I got this?” Jane asked showing him her arm, there was a scar running in zigzag line on inside of her arm below the wrist, he took his other hand out from under his head and touched her arm, he kissed her scar by taking her arm to his lips and rested it on his chest,

“My first day at war, it’s pouring out in the forest, it’s dark, night actually, no stars or moon, we are in dense forest, holding the line. My colleague Ricky and I, we are drenched, our weapons are cold and our whole squad is there in forest but hidden, none visible except for the one with which you are. We are very thin spread, covering larger area not knowing what we are up against, scouted all night, we all are very tired. A person comes in earshot, I hear footsteps and we get alert, pointing our weapons at him. I ask for name, that person runs, then comes the firing, shelling, trees burst into wooden trash in minutes, a piece gets stuck on my arm as the very tree near us gets blown to pieces.”

“Shitty! First day hun?” said Zoro tracing her scar. 

“They say it’s always the worst! I could not sleep, my ears would ring with shell shots. We were spread out too thin, in the enemy territory. Two days after that we took out the artillery that killed 4 of our men, 19 injured including me, mine was minor, I did fight till end, it was awesome!” said Jane with proud face.

“Insane! No wonder you are like this!” said Zoro snorting.

“Give me your hand” said Jane, Zoro turned on his side to face her, giving her his left hand in hers, she took it to her waist, he felt her skin of her waist, felt her muscles, her skin reacting to his warm touch, her cheeks pinked slightly, she made his hand go under the fabric of her shorts, her blush deepening shades of pink feeling his hand travelling down her skin, on her hips, he smirked at her flushed face, he took it ever so slowly enjoying her slight blush spreading across her beautiful face. He hummed but she took it further to stop at lower region on her right hip, there was small deep scar sideways on her skin crossing with the old scars of the whip. His expressions changed to a little curious as he thought what Jane was up to,

“You feel that! That is the first bullet wound I got! Bullet skinned me a little and passed away, just flesh wound.” Said Jane, he captured her lips in a hungry kiss as he traced the other scars on her skin, he slowly made his way to her ass, he groped and enjoyed feeling of the soft mass under his touch. They pulled out for air, she had succeeded getting his mood back to how it was,

“So, whom you gave my apartment address? Sir Ben?”

“Yeah! He would visit me here tomorrow! He wants to talk, he does not want Mihawk to know what we talk about, so this is best choice!”

“You knew John reports to him!”

“Of course, that’s brother’s way of keeping a close eye on me since the Baratie incident!” said Jane snorting,

“Mihawk wants me to keep away from you and that’s so not gonna work. That John can take his strategies and shove it up his ass. And you……… stop thinking about all others and concentrate on us okay. I would wait for all time that is you require for accepting me as yours, I am going to claim you in every way humanly possible and want your approval for the same. I don’t know why I feel this but I know I feel this only for you!” said Zoro as the matter of fact.

“I want to be yours!” confessed Jane in equally sincere voice,

“Humm, that’s what I want to hear!” Zoro said tracing her lips with his thumb.

“You know what? These were the exact words,  it’s what Shanks said when he told me what he thought love was. You worded the same thing he told me about his lover. The exact same expressions!”

“Good! So, you don’t only have a dad but a mom too! Great! Do I know her?” Zoro asked casually,

“No, it’s more like……. he is the mother!” said Jane snorting,

“Wait! What? Man!  Never thought he is gay..…ahem…….I mean ….what they call it……..aah! a homosexual! Shit! He seems frigging player and the way he talks……..he seems totally a ladiesman! I mean, I would lie if I said that I never felt bad watching you two getting clingy at the airport, I didn’t know him back then. Not as Shanks anyway!” said Zoro, Jane busted into sweet laughter,

“Hey! What you are laughing for!”

“He did say that he would make you feel jealous, and shit! You really did feel that way?” said Jane asked with amusement.

“Yeah? I did, C'mon Je! Who wouldn't?  Wait! Do I know who he is with? Is it Ben? No, he keeps too close for comfort, Not him. Holy Shit! It’s Mihawk isn’t it? Fuck! That’s very awkward to imagine!” Jane looked at him, in awe and jaw dropped,

“Now how the hell did you even conclude that hun?” huffed Jane cutely, pushing his arms off her waist,

“Whoa! Whoa!! Calm down! Who would fight over you? Why Ben does not want Mihawk to know that he wants to talk about Shanks to you. It was not that hard to guess, a leap of faith and your question confirmed the rest!” Zoro said smirking and containing her in his embrace, she stopped resisting and finally sighed,

“Okay Smartass, you had to know it anyways. Mihawk is going to keep an eye on you now, so be prepared to get examined under fucking microscope or may I say world’s best Electron microscope!” Jane said smirking slightly and narrowing her eyes on him playfully,

“I am clean, he can check all he wants.” Zoro said straddling her as he came above her and kissed her passionately. After sometime, he pulled away after their lungs screamed for oxygen,

“I am more worried about my mother in law! Shanks approves of me? He seems so different, I mean he is different with you, you are his own so you may not feel like it, but he is different outside, he never shows us his true self!” said Zoro shifting himself on her other side, he rested his head on his left hand bending arm at elbow and caressed her face with his other free hand, he brushed stray stands of her blond hair away from her face, his leg laying between hers,

“He likes you, he is amazing! And extremely caring!” said Jane happily,     

“Shit! But Mihawk and Shanks? It’s very disturbing to imagine actually, how they can be together? It’s fucking odd, they are opposites, Shit! Both are powerful and have their own daunting identity, one is emperor, commands powerful army and other runs most prestigious units of cops the world has ever seen. One is loner and cold hearted, other is social and welcoming, completely cheeky. Shit! No way! …….it’s impossible to imagine anyone of them bottoming for the other!” Zoro said looking away staring at some spot in wall,

“Oi, don’t put it like that! And why you had to say that? They are my parents, so stop talking like that okay, I don’t need any images in my head! It’s so fucking gross!” Jane said in disturbed voice, he looked at her face and snorted,

“Well, technically they aren’t. I mean Mihawk did adopt you, so yes he may be called as your brother, or parent or guardian so but Shanks….he is technically your friend and nothing more!” Zoro said shrugging,

“Hey! He took care of me since I was a kid so small I used to fall asleep in his lap, I mean literally in his lap!” huffed Jane,

“Really?” Zoro raised an eyebrow, 

“Yeah! So stop giving me shitty ideas! I have had enough of them already!” Jane said with grossed out expressions on her face,

“Wait! You walked in on them?” asked Zoro in amused voice,

“What! No! Yuk! That’s gross Zoro!” she smacked him playfully,

“You did see something! Or something did happen! It’s all over your face!” Zoro curiously enquired,

“Okay Sherlock! I took them to dinner one day, Shanks, Law, Kid and me. On way back he bought me bag full of chocolates, I eat them all the way back home..”

“You like Chocolates! Shit! It’s only the second thing proving you are in fact a sweet little girl deep down there!” Zoro said mischievously,

“Boys like chocolates too Zoro! And what’s the first one by the way!” asked Jane childishly,

“Those! If not for you, I never would have imagined I would …….” Zoro said but stopped abruptly swallowing thickly, looking at her tight bosom visible as t-shirt fabric clung to them sweetly, she felt awkward and put her hands on his eyes,

“Shuttup! Stop acting un-Zoro-like, Zoro!” yelled Jane showing Zoro her back,

“Hey! Come here! I was just admiring you!!” said Zoro trying to make her turn to look at him,

“Pervert!” yelled Jane and pushed him back,

“Hey! Okay okay! Alright!! Geez! Go on with story alright!” surrendered Zoro and pulled her to him,

“It’s one of those days I am working round the clock. He is upset I am not eating properly so I take them all to dinner. I try going to office again but Shanks takes me home to rest. I am in his room, listening music, talking to him, I put my head in his lap but I fell asleep overdosed with chocolates. Next day I wake up, clung on Shanks’ back, he is awkwardly bent so as to keep me comfy and Mihawk at bay. Mihawk must have enjoyed teasing him and he has him in the bear hug, Shanks arms buried in Mihawk’s clothes, poor Shanks had back pain whole day! I ran away the moment I woke up. It was so fucking awkward!”

“You should have taken a photo, might have used to blackmail them!” chided Zoro,

“Seriously? ….[Jane sighed]…..Shanks has no problem with us, in fact, he was the one who encouraged me in the first place.” Jane said in sleepy voice,

“Wait! He did?”

“Yeah! He talked me into taking the Rosolt island vacation with all of you, he encouraged me texting you. He knew everything from the very start!” whispered Jane, she felt tired and comfy.

“Shoot! I didn’t know! He is so soft to you, so daunting for all of us rest. Hard to guess!” Zoro said scowling, Jane had gone silent now, she had slumped against Zoro’s chest, he was caressing her head, her eye lids felt heavy. She felt amazing and she felt at peace, for a change she felt complete, that feeling of unwanted, abandoned and loneliness had long gone now, she felt she knew Zoro for years, she felt so good with him, she smiled at herself,

“Smiling……I see!” Zoro said to her in hug, changed her position so that she could go to sleep cuddling him like that.

“Zoro…..[yawned Jane]…….never took you for a cuddler!” whispered Jane in amused voice smiling slightly,

“Never took you for chocolate-drunk!” mocked Zoro.

“It was the most amazing date, Zoro, most amazing I have ever been on!” Jane said screwing her fist on her eye, she looked childish and he liked it very much,

“Thanks, I do feel the same, though this is kind of my first!” said Zoro smirking at her sleepy face,

“Yeaaaah?” said Jane yawning herself into tears this time as she stretched herself a little.

“Hmm.....Baby?”

“Umm?”

“Sleepy?” asked Zoro looking at her half lidded eyes caressing her face with his fingers, then he looked at the clock, it read 2:37.

“Hummm! It’s good to feel sleepy, it’s been so long since I felt like this. Eating when hungry gives real satisfaction! It’s same with sleep!” mumbled Jane snuggling closer to him as if it was even possible, he smiled at her slightly, she closed her eyes throwing her leg over his legs and hummed again.

“Good night my sleepy little devil!” said Zoro and gave her a good night kiss on her head.

“Good night Zo!” whispered Jane putting her arm around him.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro and Jane were having coffee in his living room, TV played the Grandline-news, his radio was laying on table top, making noises, GLPD cops in the city were getting gunned down as it seemed, both were looking at the data they were receiving on her laptop,

“That’s quite good shot! Low range, calculated shot to the heart, we looking at some ex-copper?”

“Hard to say Zo! Why attack the uniform then?”

“Well, we haven’t received any emails asking to take up the case yet but I will contact Smoker, let us see what they are up to!” Zoro said checking his cellphone, he dialed the number but could not get him online,

“Hm, good thought!”

“Not picking up!”

“Usopp is gathering all the info, he would find us something. We need to get to the office. C’mon Ben! Be quick!” Jane said looking at her watch,

“You got hell of a case file here Je! I really need to read all this?” asked Zoro taking file which said ‘E18 JJ case 2322 O’hara’,

“If you want to help me you will!” said Jane narrowing eyes on him,

“Okay boss, I will. I start as soon as we get to office.” 

She hummed at the coffee seep,

“It’s good!” said Jane, leaning into his side, he threw his free arm around her waist securing her form against his, he too seeped from his coffee as they watched the TV sitting on a couch clinging to each other.  

“Amazing morning!” whispered Zoro as he planted kiss on her head,

“Yeah!” replied Jane mindlessly,

‘You don’t know how much I have dreamt of this Jane, having you in my arms every morning like this, I don’t really want anything else right now!’ thought Zoro stealing glance at her face. She was looking at TV seeping her coffee calmly.

“Zoro, after we finish with Ben, I guess I will be going to Shanks’ or Mihawks’, you may want to go to my office, take my laptop with you, you are to read the case file on priority, make Wiper hand;e rest of the stuff till I am back. I think I am going to need some time with one of the either.”

“Sure thing captain!” said Zoro, 

His doorbell ranged, Jane looked at her watch, 8:00 am on the dot.

“Ben!” exclaimed Jane getting up and walking to the door,

\--------------------

“Decent apartment you got here kid! Better than the other newbies anyway!” said Ben nodding at Zoro, Ben got seated on opposite side on which Jane was seated,

“Thank you sir!” Zoro said as he still was standing,

“Don’t be so stiff, I am not you sir in here. And sit down for God’s sake, it’s your own place. You made the coffee, its good!” huffed Ben awkwardly,

“Yeah!” said Zoro scratching the back of his head, muttering curse under his breath as he sat down near Jane but kept some distance for now.

“Ben, what are these? Billy is taking over? What you are taking half of my people away?”

“Billy will take over the 104th but you are being promoted to next rank, lead your damned death squad on your own. Read complete paper damn kid! And sign on that one for fuck’s sake!” said Ben seeping his coffee.

“You are pretty messed up. You didn't come here to get me sign these papers!” said Jane in irritated voice signing on whatever papers he had given her and putting it in pile for him to take,

“Yeah! Open second file!” came Ben’s gruff voice,

Jane opened the folder and her eyes went wide, she looked at the photos and a paper filled with information about a woman and a child, colour drained from her face, Zoro got curious but he did not peek in. The shock and sorrow was clear on her face, her expressions saddened after some minutes of inspection at the folder, she shut it close and sighed defeated.

“When did you find out?” asked Jane in cold voice,

“Last month! Shanks knows about it too. She lives in new world, Kaido’s territory, Dressarosa. Our boys were sent on scouting mission last month, they reported back with some photos when I spotted her as a passerby, for more info and assurance I sent two more boys in, she still lives. Has a child, about 12.” said Ben,

“Okay, why are you showing this to me?”

“It’s not matter of you being a good parent to your kid or not, or your kid is being safe or not, it had become matter of doubting your partner. We pulled a prank ages ago and Shanks been doubted for cheating. I can’t be responsible for the mess I thought but it’s been not fair to Shanks at all, you talk him into it, use this if you want!” Ben said closing his eyes in annoyance.

“This may back fire, what if he decides to go back to check on fact himself, that can prove more fetal. Or it may break his heart!”

“No, he does not have one! It’s up to you to decide, I am there for Shanks in every way possible but I want him to get back to his original self. He is not like this. And I would like to let you in on a secret!” said Ben and handed a small picture to her, it was Ben with a younger looking boy who looked quite similar to him.

“Your son?” Jane asked giving back him his photo.

“Yeah! You know what to do! I leave it up to you now!” said Ben and got up. He gave a curt nod to Jane as she slowly got up as of thinking too hard. Ben took the signed papers and away giving Jane a worried glance.

“What is it?” Zoro asked resting his hand on her back, she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes as her brows furrowed into scowl.

“Zoro, I am going to see Mihawk. Handle the team for now! I will see you soon!” said Jane and she looked disturbed and angry. Her movements were uneasy and she felt tensed up, she bent and collected file with the papers and photos in her hand, her expressions were of panic and tension, Zoro grabbed her arm, made her turn on her heels, he suddenly pulled her into a kiss.

She seemed troubled when her lips connected his but soon melted in the kiss and allowed him snog her the way he pleased and she soon felt herself relaxed against his body.

When he pulled back from her, her face was dizzy and she was blinking herself to reality, after some moments her face relaxed and she took a long breath in as her movements went stable,

“That’s better! Now you are going to make him listen to you. Off you go!” said Zoro, she smiled at him,

“I could get used to this!” Jane said licking her bottom lip with her tongue tip a little, Zoro’s taste was still there on her lips, she smiled slightly at the thought. Taking in a deep breath again she finally sighed getting herself relaxed,

“Yeah? Good for me!” he said walking her out.

\----------------

**_In Mihawk’s office….._ **

****

“What a surprise! Her highness has found time to visit me today!” Mihawk said raising an eyebrow as Jane came walking in his office, never looking up at her, he was seated at his desk, busy, looking at some papers and observing something on screen,

“We need to talk! Please stop whatever you are doing and look at me!” said Jane in impassive voice as she made her way to him,

“What is it?” asked Mihawk a little irritated furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at his sister,

“Brother, what is going on between you two? When is that going to end?” asked Jane with slight touch of sadness in her voice.

“Jane, I believe, our love life is nothing of your business!” Mihawk said in icy tone closing his eyes in annoyance,

“If you fight over me then it makes it my business!!” said Jane with equally icy tone,

“Oh! Did he tell you now?”

“No! I figured it out! Now tell me what is going on?”

“As I told you it I none of your concern and I am capable of doing whatever to takes to patch things up with him if I want to and when I want to. You do not need to worry about it.”

“What is wrong with you? How you can do that to him hun?” was Jane’s angry low voice,

“I am not doing anything to him. He is not acting properly, it’s his fault!”

“Damn right it’s his fault! Falling for a guy like you! Can’t you just put aside your ego for one time for one person? The one who loves you more than he loves himself and he may be only one who would do that for a person like you? Is it very hard to see that he is suffering? Do whatever you have to do, give me my Shanks back, go and apologize to him and settle the matter!”

“I would have tried apologizing for once but that was before I found out that he cheated on me with Ben!”

“For God’s sake Mihawk! Ben is married to a woman, he is not into men, he also has 15 year old son. Shanks did not cheat on you with anybody you idiot, he is in love with you, always been in love with you! How can anybody be so blind? Why would Shanks wait for you for all these years if he wanted to be with Ben eh? Shanks commands more men than you do, he is force to be reckoned with, even world government that you are so much fucking fond of is requesting Shanks to create peace in new world. He always has patched up with you keeping aside his ego, always apologized even though it was your mistake he tried to make it up to you but this time you have just crossed the line Mihawk!” said Jane in angry voice,

“And he sends you to clear this mess up now! He wants you to fight his battle for him? You couldn't even handle some stupid prank pulled by your own stupid friends and got into panic! You could not handle that boy! You got cheated yourself, that guy made a complete fool out of you. How does that make you good at judging who is right here?” said Mihawk with his eyes narrowed on Jane. She was fuming in anger by now, couldn't contain her rage but she closed her eyes, got up from the seat, calmed herself down somehow and sighed in annoyance.

“You know what, you are right! I am not a better judge. I sure hell as am not saying who is wrong, you for doubting him or him, for waiting for you. I didn't want to use this card but you think you can win with the pair of aces, then I have to tell you that you are wrong, you know that I don’t bluff. So this is it …..CALL!! And I am not waiting for you to fold because you better do before you lose everything on table! You are bleeding chips Mr. Dracule Mihawk.” Said Jane in very impassive voice giving Mihawk an icy glare, she put a file on his desk and walked away.

Mihawk was little moved by the way she talked, he thought for a moment about what Jane was speaking. He then took the file and opened to find himself bothered with the images and information inside the file. It was photo of Mihawk’s wife which everybody thought had died, she was with a teenager boy and a man having his arm around her waist.

Mihawk could not think anymore, he was speechless, he just gawked at the beautiful woman, she looked so happy with that man, photo showed her with what looked like a family, they were in a restaurant having a dinner may be. Many photos were there, her being happy with her new family, a man and young son. He read what paper said, she had moved to Dressarosa with the man named Takahashi, a contractor in construction business, she was living there with her family since many years.

Mihawk’s heart sank to his stomach, his wife had betrayed him, he looked for some more information on the man she was with, he knew him from back somewhere, he had a killing intent but his gaze shifted to her happy face, he looked at her with death glare which changed into frustration soon. He closed the file and threw it off the table, furrowed his brows deeper, closed his eyes and started thinking about what Jane had said.

\-----------------------------

Jane entered Shanks’ apartment, he was in the bedroom, securing his tie on his neck.

“You look handsome! Except for those dark circles below your eyes! Is Law teaching you how to get some of those” said Jane in awkward voice,

“Why thank you sweetheart! You look beautiful yourself. Looks like someone had a good date night!” chided Shanks and Jane cleared her throat looking away,

“Hm! It was the best! He was amazing! I mean he is amazing.”

“You sound so good! He asked you didn't he?” asked Shanks wearing his cheeky smile as usual,

“Yeah! Gave me this!” Jane said pointing to a ring in her ear as she made her way to the bed to sit on,

“Interesting! You got a boyfriend now! So, you two finally official?”

“Yeah! Kind of! Hey! You okay Shanks?”

“Jane! How good of you to come, baby I haven’t talked to you since yesterday, hell i haven't seen you since forever! How did it actually go? Your date with Zoro yesterday!” Shanks said trying to sound excited. His face showed that he had not been sleeping well, skin below his eyes was darker than before, his body language was different,

“I came here to confess!” said Jane in sad voice sitting on the bed,

“Confess? What? You slept with him already?” Shanks chided, as he put on his last piece of the suit, the coat,

“You did know about her? since a month?” asked Jane, Shanks turned on his heels and looked at her with slightly wide eyes, he came near her, crouched down to take her hands in his own, he looked at her warily,

“Jane, what did you do? Baby, you did not tell Mihawk, did you? That is going to pain his heart even more! I am not saying we have to hide it from him indefinitely but it’s not the right time! Shouldn't you worry about him dear?” Shanks asked Jane with very troubled voice,

“And what about you? Shouldn't he be worrying about you? Look at you Shanks, you are a complete wreck. I can’t see you like this, why didn't you tell me hun?” Jane asked worried,

“What was I supposed to tell you baby? It’s the matter of trust! If he does not trust me even after all this time then I don’t know what to do. I cannot apologize this time because that would mean that I really did cheat!” said Shanks with heavy heart.

“Did he try to confront you?”

“He came that day and said if I admit my mistake he would forgive me and we can get back together! Seriously now, he is going to treat me like that? I can’t respond to that well. I am sorry baby, I just kept that from you because I did not want to make you hate your brother. You two keep bickering as it is, don't misunderstand him, he is just ......I just did not want you to make hard choices like you did when you told him about…. HER ……being alive.” said Shanks and lowered his head. She sighed and ran her hand in his thick red hair, he put his head in her lap as he closed his eyes in frustration.

"Shanks!" whispered Jane worriedly,

“And now I have lost him! I had just got him, after so much wait! I have lost him completely.” Shanks whispered.

“That’s only way I knew to bring him back to his senses! I don’t know what else to do! I am sorry Dad!” she said feeling more embarrassing for Mihawk and sad for Shanks, she pulled him up with his shoulders and hugged him putting his head under her chin, Shanks sighed as he closed his eye thinking about his lover,

“He will go after her, he would try to destroy them, I don’t want that. He may never come back to me now that he thinks I cheated too, he would think everybody cheated on him, betrayed him. I am never getting him back” whispered Shanks in frustrated voice.

“Hey! Don’t be so morbid! It’s gonna be alright!” Jane said trying to sooth him,

After ten minutes, when the beeping started on the monitor, he pulled away from her, stood up giving her a smile and a nod.

“We have got work to do!” said Shanks in deep voice,

“Shanks!!!” said Jane worried,

“I am okay love! Come!”  

He took her by hand, made her stand, kissed her forehead before telling her that he is okay and she did not need to worry about anything but her job and they made their way to office.

Shanks was nowhere near okay and she knew that. He was disturbed but he had to handle his work. There was a new plan coming to life in his head.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane felt defeated and tired after talking to Shanks and Mihawk, she came to 18th floor, John greeted her with newspaper and coffee right outside the elevator,

“You stalking me now?” Jane asked as she came out of the door to walk towards her office,

“No, there is priority case sir Mihawk needs you to work on!”

“He is too much proud to tell me himself?” asked Jane,

“Why are you flipping out on me Jane!” said John panicking as she took coffee cup from his hand,

“I had coffee back at Zoro’s but I will have again! John you are due for a punishment!” said Jane in cold voice,

“Yes, I am. I am due for the praise as well!” mocked John smirking.

“Too much happy with ourselves now, are we John? You used the John Strauss World Bank account, he is a solider, how much time would it take to connect the dots eh! You know what will happen if they figure out who is John Strauss, you idiot!”

“Oh! They would be linked with mine, I used my money! Don’t worry Captain!”

“Smart ass, don’t you lecture Zoro! You should know better than to tease him!” taunted Jane as she shook her head at his smirk and looked around the floor, everybody was working, mostly in their cubicle, Wiper and Kiri along with Vivi and Laky were discussing something that sounded interesting, she looked at Zoro’s cubicle to find his one empty.

“Captain!” exclaimed Laky as if she is been waiting for Jane to arrive,

“Yeah! What’s up boys? You got anything interesting?” asked Jane,

“Interesting? It’s frigging terrifying!” said Kiri sounding panicked, Jane furrowed her eyebrows,

“Jane, you should look into it personally. It’s Sanji and he is all panicked and tense!” said Vivi and Jane made ‘what the hell?’ face,

“What? What the hell is he doing in here?” asked Jane with disbelief, she was handed over a file with lot of photos and analytical details,

“Look, we received this mail, I went to meet him after the request came in yesterday night, it’s real deal boss, it is really piece of some frigging detonator for nuclear bomb!” Kiri said in tense voice,

“These papers are genuine! We cross checked references for the origin, its a direct pull-down from one of the world Government’s navy headquarters’ database, Ennies lobby!” said Vivi sounding troubled,

“Why the fuck is it in his hand? And million berry question where the hell is this bomb! Is it even real? We daily receive threats like this!” Jane said sounding skeptical, Usopp came running toward them,

“It’s real deal alright!” said Usopp in high pitch sound, showing her part of a device which is used in a detonator, secured in a device so that they won’t mess it up or destroy the delicate device accidentally.

“Fuck! We are screwed!” whispered Jane as Usopp handed over her the piece which had already been looked at by Forensics and Usopp had the reports in his hands.

“Okay people! Roll up, Roll up! Usopp, Vivi, scan cities in the Grand line one by one for any nuclear activity, check all the frequencies, we are looking for live radio active signal or a nuclear device. Kiri, we want search warrant for Sanji’s house, we need something that we can connect to this man named Roger he is referring to. We need to ID this man! Try and track him down Vivi, Ussop, look into the camera feeds, I want all eyes we have got out there….traffic cams, ATMs, Shops, Streets, Malls…. Wiper you take the lead, search the schools, hospitals, railway stations, bus stations, airports and any public places of high value for any left alone objects. See, don’t be seen, take half of tactical unites and spread out, search, sweep, keep me in the loop. Laky, get me Angela, she is the one who can crack these things, and I want Iceberg to take a look at it, call him up. Find me something of material people, give it all you got. This will not go beyond this floor! I don’t want any panic. Do your job quietly! I want every man and woman on his or her terminal working to his or her full capacity! Got that?.....” said Jane and things started moving real fast,

“Yes Captain!” said them in unison while all people hurried to their terminals,

“Damm! Fucked up morning! John, Get Zoro! I am heading to interrogation room for debriefing!” said Jane as she made her way to interrogation room.

\---------------------------------------------------------

“Baby I need to talk to you, this is very important!” Zoro said as he entered through the door in a sound proof the area just outside the interrogation room where Jane was observing Sanji through the one way glass wall, the team for scanning and recording was about to arrive. Zoro was having some papers in his hands and he had brought her tab along with him, he just did not bother to look at what Jane was looking at because what he had found was the thing that Jane had been bothered with, since before they met each other, he knew that this thing was going to blow Jane’s mind out.

“No Zoro, this is more important!” Jane said in low but serious voice, her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed on Sanji. Sanji was unaware that Jane was right outside the glass wall observing his body language, he was panicked and had his head in his hands, eyes closed and frown was not ready to go away from his beautiful face.

“Yeah? That nuclear bomb bullshit! I am more than a little skeptical, I had told Usopp check it! Let us see what he finds out! Meanwhile, Je I really have a good news for ya, look at this. Look!” Zoro said cupping he face and made her look at the things he had brought with him, she took the photo in her hands and the paper he is been scribbling on,

“Kill me! Zoro where you got this? Who is she? You know her?” asked Jane in troubled voice, as she looked at the papers,

“Yeah! That is what I am telling you about! I know where she is and who she is!”

“You know her!!” whispered Jane in surprise,

“It’s Robin, she is our friend, one of _Mugiwara’s_. She is dating franky, this is photo, we had this party at his place, it was her birthday, last year! I know where she is! We can go and get her right now!”

“Shit! You are amazing Zoro!”

“No, I am actually confused, I mean …….How come Vivi did not know this? Law even? I mean here it says Vivi and you knew her identity though Law did not! Why Vivi did not tell you guys about her, it’s definitely Robin, the way you have described her here. Luffy helped her once, she was with this Crocodile guy because world government had been hunting her down! Everything just fits in! Jane, she needs real good protection, from someone outside the world government if all what you have said in this file is true and we are her good option.”  

Jane was looking at Zoro now, confused and tensed with situation and she thought back at the day when she saw Robin in Alabasta raid. She looked away from him, thinking about her mission, her eyes stared at some unknown spot on wall, she narrowed her eyes and spoke up in low and impassive voice.

“Vivi was in office, monitoring our operation with live cam feed. I was on the field, we were so short-handed. I saw her but she was much younger and different. Um….her hair, her face, her eyes seems bit different, it can be contacts, it’s different but yes, it’s definitely close to be actually her!” Jane was narrowing her eyes as she travelled along the memory lane trying to find out some missing clues.

Zoro rested one of his hand on small of her back made her snap out of the past, she looked at him, her expressions did not change much, she did not smile back at him but her voice was not impassive anymore,

“Un…..Good job Zoro, I don’t know what to say, I am so damned lucky I gave this data to you, you are so frigging honest about everything and I fucking love it!” Jane said looking at Zoro, he smiled and put arm around her bringing her to his chest, he took papers from her hands and put them on the desk, then caressed her cheek with his free hand. Jane leaned into his touch and closed her eyes,

“What a day! I am getting bombarded with these annoying things since the morning! What the hell is going on?” whispered Jane,

“We will solve it together! Don’t worry!” Said Zoro bringing his lips near hers, she pushed him back playfully, but he put a hand on back of  her head and brought her face closer to his,

“You shouldn’t be snogging in here, my dear acting-lieutenant, interrogation is about to start, people are coming in here!”

“I can do anything till they come!” Zoro said in husky voice giving her a sexy smirk and he managed to link his lips with hers, she made him pull out too quickly for his liking,

“Uhrrmmm!” Growled Zoro when she pulled back all together,

“Really Zoro, stop! Take a look, turn your head back!” Jane said pushing him away playfully,

“No babe, let wiper handle it. We are going out. C’mon, let’s go and get her! You have been searching her all this time! And that woman needs protection, really!”, said Zoro and leaned in again and planted a quick peck on her lips,

“Zoro, we have a bigger problem, we received a viable threat! Nuclear!”

“Usopp check it yet?” Zoro exclaimed with disbelief, Jane nodded and got herself out from his death grip on her waist,

“Have we informed the anti-terrorism unit yet?” asked Zoro, Jane shook her said saying ’no’,

“One more thing! Look!” said Jane pointing a finger to glass, Zoro finally turned his head to find the Cook seated on chair in front of two empty chairs and a table in an interrogation room, his head in his hands, his elbows rested on table, he looked rattled and it seemed that he had been crying shitless!  

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Zoro said gritting his teeth, taking out his keycard in order to enter the room, he was about to open the door to get in there and fight with cook as usual,

Jane grabbed Zoro by his hand, made him stop and look at her,

“Hey, Zoro….wait a minute, will you?” Jane exclaimed,

“Zoro, he is all messed up! And how come you did not know he was here?” said Jane grabbing his hand and stopping him,

“Well Usopp called me all freaked out when I was reading the file you gave me. He is always panicked no matter how small the threat is, so I thought I would look into it after Wiper confirms it, he said he would handle it! I wanted to get that Ohara case off your chest!!”

“Zoro, this is not the right moment for you to take your personal..”

“Je, why is he screwing with us? What is he up to now? You now, I traced that number, the one who sent you photos, it’s his and I am not inclined to forgive him now, he just wants to break us apart.”

“But, we didn't. We are great, aren't we? We are together! Let me handle this Zoro!"

"Je!" whispered Zoro sighing, she made him look at her,

"Look at me baby! He came in here with a sensitive information and a piece of paper describing parts of nuclear bomb to be commissioned, he is so fucking spazed out. He claimed to have found it in pocket of his friend’s jacket. Just take a look at him, he is so fucked up!” said Jane in sweet voice that made his heart melt. He cleared his throat and bent a little to speak in her ear,

“Just this one time!” said Zoro, gave her quick peck on lips and there was sound of door lock opening, he immediately pulled out from her and went over to sit in his usual position when Jane is supposed to be debriefing or interrogating somebody.

People came in with devices and the recording instruments. Vivi entered the last along with medic support for drugs which made people talk.

“We don’t need those drugs just yet, he is not a suspect. Okay people, set up quickly, I am gonna go in. I want his iris, his pulse, scan on heart and brain, his medical records, the sketch of his friend Roger, his file, where is file Vivi!”

She gave her the file and sketch Jane was asking about.

\----------------------

Shanks entered and everybody stood up giving him a nod,

“As you were!” said Shanks, Jane gave him a smile,

They all relaxed in their seats and started working what was necessary for the process,

“You may proceed Jane!” Shanks said and gave her a quick wink,

“Yes sir!” Jane said in a firm voice, she gave a nod to Vivi,

“Who prepped him up for the scan?” asked Jane looking at the ivy and various wires coming out for his clothes.

“Gary did!” was Vivi’s reply,

“Perfect!” replied Jane,

“Microphones are set!” Vivi said, there was some machine sound and a small beep,

“Base line recorded, Neural scan is up!” a guy said who had Sanji’s brain scanned for neural activity on his screen,

“Commencing audio visual recording.” As guy said, Zoro handed over Jane small ear piece and he took one of them to put it inside his own ear, she nodded at him while putting it inside her left ear,

“Testing ear piece” as guy said and Jane and Zoro gave nod to him.

“Zoro, you wait for now, I will go in!” Jane said, he immediately nodded as they already had decided it beforehand,

Jane pushed buttons entering some codes to unlock the door after using her keycard on the scanner and went in with a file and pack of cigarettes in her hand,

“Interview is commencing on 10:32. Mr. Sanji Black, case no. EU 18-142” was the voice in Jane’s ear telling her to proceed,

“Mr. Sanji Black, Sue Chef of famous _Baratie_ , trained kick boxer and Martial artists, oh! File says Sawate, currently living downtown, in the heart of the central Grand line city, with his only relative Mr. Zeff Black, owner of _Baratie_ , let see……single and recently returned from North Blue, hum. Lot of info about you Sanji ” said Jane in firm voice,

Sanji was shot up in chair at the sound of her voice, he now was turned back on his heels, standing up and looking at Jane wide eyed, she was in tight fit gray suit giving out her features perfectly, she looked ravishing but he was too confused to praise her finding her in this organization,

He swallowed thickly before he opened his mouth to speak up but nothing came out,

“You need water? You feeling dizzy Sanji?” asked Jane made her way to sit in a chair in front of him,

“You work here? Is that why you said you were a cop?” asked Sanji weakly.

“Yes dear, please take a seat.” Jane said, Sanji sat down in his chair and dropped his shoulders and looked at her warily,

“Jane, I just want you to help me get him off the hook, I can talk Roger into giving up all the information he has, please just help me, I don’t know what to do.” Said Sanji,

“He is not lying as of now! Everything he said is true!” was a voice in her earpiece,

“Okay Sanji! First, tell me Roger what? His full name and contact number?”

“Roger Rob, no contact number”

“Roger Rob” said Jane feeling bit awkward because Rob was Lucci’s family name,

“No data matching his description of the man, nothing what so ever, cross referencing with FBI and GLPD.” came the Vivi’s voice in Jane’s ear.

“We will be able to help you but you have to tell me from the beginning! Make sure you tell us everything you know. Okay? Now who is this friend of yours? Roger. What he does? Where is he?”

“I don’t know where is he right now but the last time I have seen him is yesterday. At this hotel, he went to washroom, we were having dinner at the Seven Seas, his phone was ringing and ringing so I just sniffed his jacket…… just to shut the cellphone off but I found that………..that document and the chip or whatever and I could not think anything else but pocketing it. I did not tell him but when I got home I called my friend who knew about this stuff, I called him over, he saw it and said that it was a part of device called detonator for bomb and it’s serious deal so he told me to come to you guys.” Said Sanji panic clear in his voice.

“Brain scan normal, still speaking the truth” came a voice in her ear.

“The guy who you asked for help yesterday, what is his name, how does he know about this stuff?” asked Jane,

“I can’t tell you that, it’s a sealed record. He could go to jail again.”

“Sanji, you have to tell me everything!”

“I can’t betray him! He helped me!”

“If that bomb goes off, millions of people will die, we are in the middle of an international crisis here Sanji.”

“I will help you search for it, I will help you fight, I am good fighter Jane chan!”

“Sanji, you are not getting it! We can’t karate the nuclear bomb! What if that guy gets blown up too? I mean you are protecting a dead guy here! C’mon tell me.” said Jane,

“I love her!” was Vivi’s praising voice in Jane’s earpiece,

“His name is………… Gin, he used to work for the Don………..Don Krieg. But he is a changed man now, trust me.” said Sanji,

“We know him all right.” Came Zoro’s voice in earpiece,

“Yeah! Pulling up files…….. he is not currently involved in any illegal things.” Said another man,

“Okay Sanji, now tell me where I can find this Roger?” asked Jane again,

“I don’t know that myself, really, I am trying since I woke up. In fact since I found out about that thing….i could not sleep…I am trying to find him myself…….”  

“Why did not you confront him yesterday?”

“I did not know about this thing just then, I just thought it was something dangerous, I was actually………I did not want to push him away. He …..he is……..he had just ……” Sanji stopped talking and his eyes started watering up,

“Shit!, he is just wasting time!” Came Zoro’s voice as if he was gritting his teeth,

“Sanji, he had just what?”

Sanji shook his head,

“Okay, how do you know him? For how many days you have known him?” asked Jane. Sanji sighed and lowered his head,

“Sanji, if you want me to help you help him, you need to tell me, we need to find him Sanji, there are millions of lives are stake!”

“I don’t know where is he? I really don’t know!” Sanji said panicking,

“Give me something so that I can find him! His cell number, his address, his car plate, something, how we can track him down Sanji?”

“I don’t know!” Sanji said,

“You don’t even have a photo of him? That is impossible. C’mon, gimmi your cellphone code, I will unlock it and see for myself.” Jane said in irritated voice,

“I don’t know where he is staying, my phone is private property and you can’t see my personal things okay! He does not have a car, I pick him up every times he calls and he calls from a public phone, I don’t know!” Sanji was tugging in his hair,

“So you guys hang out daily?”

“N…No”

“What if you want to call him? What you do then?”

“I wait till he calls. I mean it’s not been that many days Jane chan! He ..he was not here on the city! I guess!”

“Is he your best friend, how come nobody knows him? Do you two have any common friends?”

“No!”

“He knows something but can’t tell us, his pulse is high, very high! He is lying!” came a voice informing Jane to pressure him,

“Why you want to help him? You are hiding something! How can you not know his address or his cell number?” said Jane changing her firmer tone to sharp one,

“I really don’t know!”

“What are you not telling me Sanji?” Jane asked getting down to business directly,

“I told you Jane, I told you everything I could that would help you solve this thing!” Sanji snapped out, he almost yelled,

“That is our job to decide. Your job is to tell us all and everything you know, don’t hide anything, you paid up a huge amount of money, you also know now this is much more than just a case for me, bomb could be inside your house for all I know” Jane said in tone that would scare the living hell out of normal people but Sanji was not like that, he had a tolerance level,

“No, he won’t do that. I am telling you I already gave you what I could.” Said Sanji looking at her frustrated, Jane narrowed her eyes on him, stood up leaning on table, placing her palms on table as she bored her eyes in Sanji’s, and spoke in icy voice,

“C’mon, Sanji, it’s not that difficult to guess! I mean why you did not mention him to any other friends till date, why you said that you don’t want to push him away, if you thought he was in the danger why you did not call the police, you called your friend who was way out of your regular friend circle you hang around with, we know how frequently or I may say how less frequently you call Gin, you have your own restaurant but you go to other famous hotel for dinner with just a friend, you know I am getting there hun, Sanji?” said Jane coldly,

“Stop! Stop it!” yelled Sanji closing his eyes,

“Take it easy Jane, he is not a suspect, he is a client!” was Shanks’ voice in her ear,

“I can’t believe you want to help him, may be you are just playing us, may be you are making this up! You are hiding something in there and when people will die because you were protecting your secrets, it will be on your conscious! Can you live with that?” said Jane now giving him icy glare, he flinched at her glare and looked away. He was shocked at her cold voice, he thought for a minute and looked up and got angry at her,

“You can’t say that, I only stole that thing from him and I came to you because I wanted to help!” whined him nearly in tears,

“Jane, stop it baby! You are being too harsh!” said Shanks, Zoro’s eyebrow twitched when Shanks voice, the way he addressed Jane, his Jane…….

“You just want to help him? Don’t you want us to find that bomb! I am asking you again! Who is this guy to you? On second thought I would like to reframe it. Did he force you to do this? Did he harm you in any way Snaji?” Jane asked suddenly changing the question,

“No, No he did not. I really don’t want anybody to die!” said Sanji in weak voice.

“I know you are good person Sanji! But situation changes people.”

“No, I really don’t want anybody to die but I can’t tell you more!”

“It means there is more!” said Jane, and Sanji hissed and yelled,

“Jane chan, I don’t know where Roger is, I paid your organization to find him out and you are working me instead!” spat Sanji,

“Bastard!” was Zoro’s voice in her ear,

“Okay, take your final stand! I guess your approach was right.” Was Shanks voice in her earpiece.

She sighed and slammed her hands on table, making Sanji flinch in his seat,  

“You better come clean or I will force you talk Mr. Black. We have numerous methods to break people. I have drugs that will make you babble and spill your beans without me making any efforts to talk you down to it. I don’t want to treat you badly Sanji. But I don’t have to go there yet! And you know why?”

Sanji swallowed thickly as Jane made her way to him, she changed angle of his chair, moving his chair with him seated in it with a force that people would have thought was impossible for such a lean and thin girl like her, now he faced her still seated on his chair and she placed her hands on his shoulder, gripped them tightly to the point that it would hurt, scan did show that Sanji was in fact in pain,

“My people are on their way to your house as we speak, they will be telling your father what you are up to and search your house for evidences, we have been issued a search warrant of your place now. If you don’t talk, if you keep hiding things from me, I will talk to all the people you know and find out this bastard even if I had to scan every goddamned street of the Grand line myself and if I find anything, anything at all, just as simple as small piece of paper as evidence connecting you with this man, I will put you in jail for the rest of your life to rot!” said Jane in icy voice, she left his shoulder, now aching badly, may be bruised and she turned on her heels to leave, stuffed her hands in her pockets as she started walking away without sparing him a second glance.

There was silence outside, nobody spoke, Shanks knew her ways, she always did it but it was so dammed effective and impressive each time to watch her make people talk,

“We were dating!………we dated when I was in school. We are lovers!” said Sanji quickly in weak voice, Jane stopped and turned her neck to glance back at him over her shoulder. After a moment, she went over to her original position, seated on the chair making herself comfortable and waited for him to continue,

“It started out as causal relationship, just a quick fuck, but I got ………..I got serious and we started dating, we did it for few months. One day he just disappeared suddenly. I tried to search for him, but he was gone, completely vanished ……….like ………like never existed. He …..he came back in the Grand line like a miracle. He called me on the day I came back from the vacation like he was waiting for me to come back. When I refused to talk to him, he broke into my house the other night just to make me listen to him. Jane chan, please just help me save Roger, I have strength but I don’t have resources.”

Jane had heard Zoro taking a sharp breath and muttering a curse under his breath………


	18. Turmoil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lot of things are happening! Hawkeye tower is in chaos, Iceberg is attacked....
> 
>  
> 
> Enter the Robin!!  
> Finally O'hara case moves forward, Jane finds Robin.
> 
> Roger's identity is revealed!!
> 
> Little Marco X Jason  
> HC Roger X Sanji  
> Slight Zoro X Jane

**At Marco’s place,**

Marco was eyeing a suspicious envelope named after Jason, it was put in Marco’s mailbox and had no marks or logo on it nor did it even had any name of the sender. Marco inspected it for a minute more, carefully observing it, making sure it was safe to handle. Marco gave a sigh when he finally found a very faint, nearly negligible mark of Jaraquille written over it, Marco smirked pocketing the item before he walked to the door while taking out his keys to unlock it. Marco’s eye sight adjusted to the weakly illuminated space, his living room, he locked the door shut behind him.

Jason was asleep on the couch curled up into ball. Marco’s his lips curved into a smile looking at the sleeping form of his lover and discarded on the ground his bag, his keys along with the brown envelope before making his way to the couch.

Marco took a minute to admire the sight of asleep blonde, he stood there staring on his lithe physique. Jason’s eyebrows were knitted as if he was having a sad dream. Marco wanted to crawl on to the couch and press their bodies together close, kiss Jason till he forgets his pain. Marco smirked at the thought, feeling aroused at look of his lover carelessly sleeping in his shorts, blanket low on Jason’s hips, his topless chest bare for Marco to gawk at….

“You do that on purpose, aren’t you? Naughty Boy!!” whispered Marco smirking at his lover, he went over to Jason, bent down to blow some air on his face, Jason’s eyeballs moved a bit but eyelids didn’t open,

He caressed Jason’s cheek with his thumb and kissed his forehead, Jason jerked himself awake at sudden warmth on his face,

“Marco! Please don’t do that, I told you that already, please don’t do that!” whispered yelled Jason gripping blanket in his hands, his beautiful features nearly in panic and his thin eyebrows furrowed,

“I told you to feel safe around me!” said Marco in teasing voice, Jason felt a little offended,

“I am not scared! I was just…just…just a little surprised!” huffed Jason quickly, his face felt hot, he felt his body hot from blush as he felt Marco’s gaze on him,

“I like to surprise you! And your reactions arouse me to no end!” Marco said climbing on the couch, getting beside Jason making him cozy, Marco pressed Jason into the soft plush couch,

“N--No, you just like to sneak up on me!” complained Jason cutely, holding the bigger man at bay as he placed a pillow between them,

“Baby you are not accusing me of that!” Marco gripped his cheeks playfully and took the pillow away,

“Marco you should not be with me like this! People will know who I am and then you..” Jason’s brows were drew together in worry,

“Yeah they will! You are my boyfriend!” Marco cut him off,

“No Marco! I was a sla..” Jason panicked but was cut off a little rudely,

“Shut up!” chastised Marco and took Jason’s hands in his bigger once and pinned Jason under his powerful torso as he straddling him, Jason’s cheeks flushed pink as Marco leaned down to grab Jason’s lips with his own.

Jason soon was left moaning helplessly in the kiss dominated by Marco, melting in the warmth the bigger blonde offered to Jason, Marco sucked on Jason’s tongue and scrapped his teeth on the wet organ a little drawing a moan from him, Marco’s hand left Jason’s, went to his small face, Marco then ran his fingers on his neck but touched his scars in the process…

Scars!! Those weren’t merely on Jason’s skin, but on his mind, his heart, they made him remind who he was and what he had been doing………It wasn’t like he hadn’t been kissed while he was away from Marco. They forced him into kissing, abused every part of his body, Jason didn’t know if he could feel anything for anybody after being taken mercilessly by various men. Jason simply had accepted his destiny, he used to do what he was told, spread his legs for men and fucked his dick forcefully onto some women when he was ordered to, he never wanted to be with women, it grossed him beyond infinity but he had no choice. He was in denial at first; for many days, even after getting raped many times, Jason hadn’t give in, he had put up good fight. But they had children in their captivity. They were threatened to be killed or abused if the adults were not ready to give in. Finally Jason’s heart had weakened and he had decided to accept a life of a pleasure slave. He could not just get rid of those memories…….

Memories stabbing his heart with the pain, Jason didn’t even know when he had stopped responding Marco’s kiss,

“Jas??? Hey, you okay?” asked Marco worried,

Jason blinked,

‘Ohh, I did that again, didn’t I? Spaced out on him like an idiot! Marco must have felt bad, he stuck his neck out for me, took me home, I am safe because of him and I just keep hurting him….what so I do?’

“Hey! Jas??” worry took over Marco seeing his lover in pain,

“I am sorry! I am so..” panicked Jason, was nearly in tears,

“Hey! Tell me, what is it? You want me to stop?” Marco felt bad for making Jason recall his pain,

“No, no, I want you to hold me!” said Jason, knitting his brows in sorrow, as his grief made its’ way out of his eyes, Marco sighed worriedly, he caressed Jason’s cheeks, stoked his back to sooth him, after few moments Marco spoke softly,

“Jas, you have to tell me when you don’t feel good okay? Please don’t cry! You know that I love you, right?”

“I know! I love you Marco!” said the shorter blonde hugging his lover,

“I told you to have a food and sleep, why you keep waiting for me! You are going to affect your health like that!” said Marco sounding worried, his finger buried deep in Blonde locks of the small man, he held Jason close to comfort him, Jason’s sniffling died down slowly,

“I was not that hungry! And I am always at home as it is! I can sleep whenever I want!” whispered Jason shrugging,

“You can get a decent job, you are good at many things! Don’t sit at home, do something! We don’t need money but you should not be hiding in here Jas!”

“I don’t have an identity that would suit the work culture here, I can’t get a job without getting suspicious looks; I stand out too much, I can’t face them just yet”

“I can change that, I can give you a new identity, the whole new world if you want!”

“What about my behavior? I feel safe around lady Jaraquille and I just want to work for her or not at all!” said Jason looking away with shame on his face,

“Hmm! Well, I talked to Jane yesterday, she has fully recovered from her injuries and she resumed her job too, she sounded good and she said she wanted to see you! You can’t hide from the world like this! Go and see her once!” whispered Marco against Jason’s forehead,

“I will! I want to see her. I want to thank her.”

“Hmm, I will call her tomorrow!” Marco said giving a sigh, he was stroking Jason’s back, thinking about what Jane had said to him about Ace, where she thought Ace had disappeared to, he had to tell Jane about Marshal D. teach,

After few silent moments of Marco’s thinking about Ace’s vanishing and the matters he had to take care of in the morning, Jason interrupted train of his thoughts as he pulled out from Marco’s chest, Marco looked at him with worried eyes,

“Jas?”

“Kiss me!” said Jason griping Marco’s shirt in his fists,

‘You don’t need to feel bad for it you idiot! What do I do with you Jason! I want to make you feel better, make you understand how fucking important you are to me! Don’t behave like you owe me or something, how do I get your confidence back? The way you were all those years back, so full of energy and full of life, happy, joyous!!’ thought Marco,

“Jas, you take it easy, don’t worry about..”

“Kiss me, please!” asked Jason with pleading eyes,

Marco leaned in to claim Jason’s lips in lovely pleasure, his actions were slow and smooth, he brushed his lips wet with saliva on Jason’s, Jason hummed against Marco’s lips, sound rumbled through their tongues went to Marco’s throat, he couldn’t help but deepen the kiss,

“God! What you do to me eh?” whispered Marco when he pulled out, Jason was panting heavily, Marco couldn’t wait to lick his lover’s neck,

“Marco!” moaned Jason when he felt Marco kissing his neck ………………..

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gloomy!!

No doubt about it!!

Days were gloomy for him, nothing was the way it was before he made it back to grandline……

He did not know when and how things started falling apart so fast and why? His life was perfect….so perfect….. just this last month, how things changed so fast that he could not even take a breath without thinking what wrong he exactly did to deserve this fate.

When he was serious people wanted to play, when he became a player he found a guy who was serious about him but when he thought of giving it a chance it just slipped away faster than he could catch it back, like sand slipping away from a fist and he could not do anything to stop it but helplessly witness. He could not sleep, could not work, could not even flirt at girls anymore. Woman around him were confused by his behavior, some even offered him assistance to liven up things which he could have loved more than anything **IF** he was the same Sanji he was before.

Even if people threw taunt at him, he would not respond, he would not react to anything, he would even let pass the opportunity to date girls, he even had got a shot at Nami but he turned it down politely which was a shock to Nami and Vivi.

These days, Sanji just ignored his surroundings, ignored people, girls even. He cooked just like he always did, to say the least, cooking was never difficult for his hands, he could even cook blindly of he were at his kitchen in _Baratie_ , he did not even need to think to cook for almost all the dishes they served there. Zeff had noted his strange behavior since the day he came back from Rosolt islands but tried to keep mum about Sanji’s ill mood.

Sanji’s telephone ringed, it was some number of public telephone booth.

“Yeah hello, you have reached Sanji Black!”

“Sanji, hey, It’s me. Don’t hang up baby, please listen to me one time, look, I ju…”

And bam!! The Call was cut off by Sanji before he resumed his work like that was a wrong number or nobody just called him,

This had been happening a lot lately, for more than two weeks now, calls like this would come and Sanji would just ignore them, he thought of the time back when he was made a to be left alone, left out, cold, to wait indefinitely for the one who he never would have thought return, not like this at least.

Sanji’s cellphone ringed again, he spotted the unknown number again and decided to ignore.

\-------------------------------------------

“Sanji, I am leaving. I will meet you at the restaurant tomorrow afternoon. Don’t get into any trouble till I get back.” Said Zeff gruffly as he stood by the door ready to leave. Sanji did not look at Zeff but kept staring at TV.

“Yes!” was the simple boring unusual reaction from Sanji which was little irritating considering his usual replies were annoying sentences implying that he was not kid anymore and he needed to be left alone often, filled with cusses like shitty old geezer or stupid old man……..

Zeff grunted and left the house and Sanji shot up in his seat the next second, he ran to the kitchen and took out a bottle of whisky …..

Sanji was a lightweight, he knew he could not take much of alcohol but he wanted to get drunk, he wanted to stop this thinking and the pain that thinking brought up.

\-------------------------------------------------

“Sanji…..” came a voice, very familiar and very alluring, that voice he dreamt of hearing every day,

Sanji’s eyes did not open, why would they?

After all, he always thought of Roger when he got drunk, he mumbled Roger’s name,

Sanji moaned his name while he jerked off, he moaned his name when he touched himself in his bathroom, he knew he was dreaming, hearing voices as he always did when he got drunk,

“Sanji, hey, open your eyes!”

‘Wow! Roger’s voice, its too real today, I think I have had enough!’ thought Sanji smiling bitterly,

Sanji’s eyes hurt, he did not want to open his eyes, they were red and puffy from crying, he was lonely, hurt, cold and felt unwanted.

“Sanji look at me!”

Sanji wanted that voice to stop calling for him, he knew he could not control his mind when he was drunk. He always went back to day when…

“Sanji, look it’s me…” the voice was very close now,

“I know you are not real, I am dreaming again, hallucinating may be!” mumbled Sanji turning on his side on the couch, his glass fell from his hand, it got dropped on floor, did not shatter all together but broke none the less.

Something touched his cheeks very lightly and Sanji flew open his eyes, blinked at the sight of a familiar face very near to his,

“You! What the fuck arrre you doing in my house! Get out!” yelled Sanji trying to sit up in couch, gripping the edge in one hand and pillow in other, he tried to balance himself,

“Calm down! Here let me helf!” said him as he made Sanji sit properly,

“Get the hell away… …away frrroom me, get the hell out or I am cal….calling the police!”

“You had too much, didn’t you?” came a mature and calm voice,

“Sh….Shuttup!” spat Sanji,

Sanji felt need to throw up as he really had more alcohol than he could stomach, looking at his expressions the man lifted Sanji up, looked around the place and then carried him to the bathroom. Sanji was shedding tears now, he was put down in front of toilet and Sanji emptied his stomach throwing up. Roger was holding him in place, occasionally made soothing movements on Sanji’s back, he also held back his hair protectively.

‘His touch, his smell, it’s still is the same. I thought it would be over now, I must have forgotten everything, I should have, It’s unhealthy to talk to myself, ……..I remember how he touched me! His cuddles, his lips, his hands, his scent! I remember every fucking detail! Roger, I want to fucking hate you! Why! Why are you back??’

After Sanji was done vomiting his guts out, he collapsed on Roger’s chest, he took Sanji to the sink and made him clean his mouth. Sanji was carried to his bed, given a pill and some water. Roger wiped clean Sanji’s cheeks of the tears,

“Oh! Baby I am so sorry! I know it’s not easy to forgive me, I want to make it up to you, I am here to apologize”

“No, you came to aggravate me, disturb me life and vanish again when you are done with me!” spat Sanji.

“Would let me explain anything? At least once, will you listen to me?”

“No.”

Sighed Roger tiredly.

“Anyways, that does not make any difference now, does it? Because you would always do what you want to!”

“Sanji, look, I made a mistake and I don’t want to repeat it. Here! Take a look.”

Roger handed over to him some papers with World Government’s mark on it, it was set of papers for same-sex marriage license and court house papers. Sanji was awestruck at the sight of those papers, he barely read a few lines stupefied by sudden attack of love, when his face was cupped by the taller man to make Sanji look at him, his brown eyes bored into bewildered blue one,

“I am not going to leave you again ever, I want you to be legally mine, forever. And here, if that is not going to do it, then this will definitely will do!” said the taller man in soft voice as he caressed Sanji’s face with thumb. Sanji now had in his hand, another set of papers that declared that Sanji can visit and participate the world government’s ‘finding the All Blue’ research division and also can apply for the exam which can earn him a ticket to work at the mightiest hotel in whole world, which was normally off limits for non-government cooks.

“And this is how I am making my apology!” said Roger in soft voice, kneeling down in front of Sanji offering him a golden ring with special inscriptions inside it.

“Still going to be mad at me? or you are ready to marry me?” said the man with smile plastered on his handsome face, his ginger hair covered under cap shadowing his eyes a bit.

“You could be recording this, making fun of me, to laugh at me later; tricking me into doing stuff and making fool out of me for all I know!”

“Sanji!”

“You shouldn’t be expecting me to believe everything you say!”

“What do I do to make you believe me then? Here, I have a gun on me, It’s loaded..” Said Roger, showed him loaded magazine, he put it back in the gun and loaded barrel with a bullet,

“Now, if you think I am not worth it, shoot me!” Roger placed gun in Sanji’s palm as he kneeled before Sanji, bowing his head, Sanji took a gun, surprised at the weapons Roger had on him,

“Ah! And I have this knife and a this; sword too, you can choose your weapon!” added Roger, Sanji gripped the gun, pointed it to Roger’s head,

“S..shoot you? I really could kill you!” whispered Sanji gritting his teeth, Roger did not move a muscle, he waited Sanji to make his call, Sanji sighed frustrated and threw the gun away.

“Why? Why you had to leave in the first place?” asked Sanji furiously, Roger rose on his feet a little, cupped Sanji’s face in his hand,

“I said I made a mistake, quite a big one! Please Sanji, let me make up for it, give me one chance for old time’s sake!” pleaded the bigger man,

“Zeff would not allow this, I can’t leave him. And how do I know you are not lying to me now?” Sanji asked in weak voice as he looked at the ring with disbelief.

“Sanji, I am involved in something terribly big, something that is controlled by the world’s most powerful people. I went away like that to keep you away from harm’s way. I am not allowed to tell you everything until after you and I become legally married, that is why I brought these papers. I could not live like that, could not just go on without you, so I found out a way for us to be together. Please just trust me this last time.” said him.

“Oh! Really? trust you? I did, really did trust you back then you know.” Sanji said bitterly, “Now it just very damn difficult!”

“Is that why you have been away from men, is that why you never accepted any male lover in your life after me? Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me Sanji?” said the man and Sanji looked at him with angry eyes and hurt face, anger was pumping up his veins, he wanted to kick man out of his house.

He thought he had built up enough hatred over the years for the man that he could overcome his love, he was fuming about how Roger had tricked him and left him alone when he got serious, he became a player and started dating girls to prove that he was not weak, that he was better than every other man out there, that he would never surrender to anybody ever again. Sanji had been quite proud of his looks, his appeal, his skills and his cooking. Sanji felt panic at the fact that after all this time, after all these days, this man, his first lover, still had this kind of control over Sanji.

“How dare you? It was you who left m…” Sanji’s words died and got swallowed by a wet and warm mouth when Roger attacked Sanji’s lips aggressively, Sanji protested but not for too long. Sanji just could not resist, he wanted to curse the man and throw him out of his house but his body did not want to protest anymore, he knew he was not putting up much resistance, he knew he should not be responding but his body did not listen, his heart was in conflict, his mind was cloudy with want.

The taller man’s hands left Sanji’s face making Sanji whimper, soon Sanji was yanked to a warm bigger muscular chest. Sanji was being pushed down on the bed and was compelled to moan in the kiss when the powerful hands groped his ass cheeks over fabric of his pants, soon Sanji realized that it was actually being undone. He could not think straight any more, he felt his suit been taken off, coat came off then was the vest, then came the shirt. Sanji’s lips parted for protesting but a dominatig tongue slid inside Sanji’s mouth taking the complete control over Snaji’s senses he could not even feel his light blue button up shirt was being buttoned down slowly.

Within few minutes, Sanji was naked in his bed panting and shivering at the sudden coldness due to absence of the clothes and Roger’s warm body that he was pressed against just a moment ago, he gave involuntary shudder looking at Roger’s lusty brown eyes, his knees on both sides of Sanji’s hips, he was taking his own clothes off as he chose to pleasure the blonde cook with his words.

“Looks like you missed me too! It’s been so long isn’t it Sanji? Look at you, haven’t changed much eh? You still are beautiful, very beautiful, exactly the way I remember you! So pretty!” said the ginger.

He lowered himself on Sanji again, his hand went to Sanji’s ass and his lips travelled to Sanji’s neck this time, Sanji’s hands involuntarily wrapped around taller man’s neck,

“You don’t know how much I missed you, you don’t have a fucking clue. And you don’t know how you make me feel now, you don’t know anything, you lair! You….. you could be anyone, maybe am I going to fuck with some prick doing illegal business for some mafia or something. Though I do not want this, but I can’t keep my hands off you.” yelled Sanji in agony and want at the same time,

“Sanji I will not lie to you anymore!”

“Yeah? Roger you do….”

“Darling! My real name is Kaku, I work for the World government! Please believe me, I will not give you any chance to complain about my loyalty to you now onwards, I am not here to do anything other than making love to you!”

“Wow, so your name was a lie too hun! Great! I dated the man whose name I didn’t know. Anything else you want to tell me that would make me look like more of an idiot that I already am feeling right now?” Snarled Sanji but pulled Kaku close as if he did not want him to go anywhere,

He showered Sanji’s neck with apologetic kisses, Sanji shivered with the warm and wet touches,

“I am going to make it up to you, you will see.” said Kaku before licking and sucking in Sani’s Adam’s apple, Sanji gave a delicious shudder digging his fingers in Kaku’ back.

Kaku moved down Sanji’s pale lean chest, licking and sucking as he went finally finding Sanji’s pink and erect nipple under his tongue, Sanji hissed when Kaku took the hard nub between his teeth for a gentle grinding, teasing the other one with his fingers pinching it slightly, Sanji gripped the bedsheet above his head with both his hands and gave out a moan arching his back demanding for more pleasure. More teasing was granted as Kaku hummed and sent surges of electricity through Sanji’s harden nipples as he forced his teeth more and pulled on the other nipple with his fingers earning a whimper from moaning Sanji.

Sanji’s hands travelled on Kaku’s chest, travelled down finding his pants were still on,

“You should have realized by now that you have far too many clothes on!” demanded Sanji.

“I was hoping your hands would like to take them off, love!”

“It’s not your turn to be demanding, I have been empty for far too long, now get that fabric off your cock and fill me up.” Ordered Sanji,

“And Sanji is back! I am happy to help you with that if you would let me pleasure you with this!” said Kaku against the skin of Sanji’s stomach and quickly moved down, he looked at the perfectly erect mass and gave a lick on Sanji’s hard cock without any warning, Sanji yelped,

“Oh Fuck! A.. again! Please do that again!” whispered Sanji and Kaku smirked at him before lowering his face, blowing wind on blonde’s licking rod causing Sanji to curl his toes, he captured Sanji’s cock with his hand, he put his fingers around the base of Cook’s cock and parted his thighs so quickly that Sanji actually could not cope up with speed of things.

“Hey! That is not fair!” yelled Sanji but he put three fingers in Sanji’s mouth to suck on,  Sanji hungrily sucked the fingers and Kaku sucked on Sanji’s collar bone to create a mark which made Sanji moan and let go if Kaku’s saliva wet fingers,

“Trust me lad, you will enjoy!” said Kaku and closed his lips on Sanji’s cock, Sanji gave out a moan and he threw back his head as he tried to shove his dick inside Kaku’s mouth deeper but Kaku had it completely under control. Sanji closed his eyes and yelled ‘Roger!’ when Kaku pulled the outer skin down and took in his cock in one gulp while entering his middle finger inside Sanji at the same time,

“Ummmmgh!” moaned Sanji with pleasure in his cock and pain at his tight entrance, Kaku’s nose touched the blonde curls, Sanji could feel his pubes fanning with Roger’s breath,  

Soon enough Kaku’s head started blobbing up and down pumping the member for more pleasure and his finger was spreading Sanji open from the bottom, he hummed around Sanj’s cock creating wave of pleasure to run through paler male which was mixed with small bit of burn when he added second finger inside the tight warmth.

“Nunnnnngh!” moaned Sanji felt his crack being stretched open as Kaku moved his fingers scissoring him and quickly added third one for finishing the preparation as quickly as possible. If not for those fingers around the base of his cock Sanji would have come by now, Kaku kept sucking his pre cum, humming and making grunts to send shivers through cook’s writhing body.

“Rog….er……..please, I…….wa….. wanna come!” whined Sanji,

Kaku pulled out form Sanji’s cock making a plop sound,

“No honey you don’t, you have not yet accepted my humble request, you know!” said Kaku sweetly,

“Roger……..aghhhh! please….please………..I…. I want you……. right fucking now damn it!” Sanji said rolling his hips, earning more friction against Kaku’s sinful fingers fucking his entrance, one of his fingers hitting against the sweet spot, making Sanji yell in pleasure,

“I want you to be mine Sanji!” said Kaku and pulled back from his entrance, Sanji gave a whimper again. Kaku took out his pants hurriedly, took out the ring and the bottle of lube from the pocket and slid the ring on Sanji’s ring finger before opening the bottle of lube. He coated his cock with lube, pulled Sanji in passionate kiss as he positioned his cock against Sanji’s well prepped entrance. He pushed himself into Sanji without stopping, Sanji’s eyes watered in pain of the burn, water dropped out of the corners of the cook’s eyes, it had been far too long that he felt his hole being virgin all over again. Sanji had only let Roger or rather Kaku ever slid inside him, he touched himself, he fucked girls but never did he touch himself there, never did he tease himself there.

The pain soon turned into a numb ache, Kaku was teasing on his slit with his well-manicured finger brushing against cook’s cockhead, Sanji hissed in kiss and bucked his lips giving Kaku sign to move. Kaku started thrusting, burying deeper and deeper with each thrust, feeling tight warmth squeezing his own cock, Kaku broke the kiss and could not help but moan Sanji’s name.

“Oh Sanji!”

“Fuck Roger, you feel so good inside me!”

“Yeah?”

“So good! It’s been so long!”

“Oh! Sanji!” moaned Kaku,

“Deeper! Fas..faster!” demanded Sanji in between moans,

Soon enough Kaku hit Sanji’s prostate making him quiver and yell in pleasure, yet demanding more.

“Oh fuck!  Yes, faster! Fuck me faster! Yes!” yelled Sanji gripping headboard.

“Arrgh!! ” Kaku panted, moaned cook’s name, slapping his hips on Sanji’s ass as Roger slid in and out of him,

“Roger! You are so fucking amazing baby!” yelled Sanji in pleasure, Kaku changed angle and thrust yet deeper,

“Oh! Yes, there!” yelled Sanji,

“Nobody claimed you yet eh! This is still mine, isn’t it? It is going to be mine forever!” said Kaku possessively and he was feeling being climaxed as Sanji’s walls squeezed his shaft.

Sanji came hard on his own stomach without Kaku much working on his cock and Sanji’s walls tightened around Kaku’s dick making him empty his seed inside Sanji. Both panting heavily, bodies sweating and chests heaving for air, Kaku collapsed on Sanji’s pale lean chest, he put his head under Sanji’s chin, on his chest as he relaxed on his lover’s body.

\-----------------------------

“It’s a very pretty ring!” said Sanji, looking at his ring finger,

“A little loose for my liking, we need to work it again or you are going to misplace or lose it!” said Kaku in his deep voice, caressing Sanji’s arm with his finger,

“I won’t, I will carry it around my neck, I can’t wear it with that old man around me all the time anyways.” Said Sanji,

“That won’t be for long, I am going to take you with me when I am done with this project. I intend to marry you as soon as possible. I will talk to your father about it.” Kaku was probing Sanji’s hand as of checking for muscles,

“He is a fucking homophobe, he does not even have a clue that I am like this, thanks to what I have been doing all these days. It’s not going to be that easy Roger!” said Sanji worriedly as he ran his hand through Kaku’s hair,

“We will see about that! You have lost so much weight, you haven’t been eating well, why you do that?” Kaku asked a little annoyed,

“It’s been crazy times lately, I had gotten involved in his guy but it seems he has already found his happiness!” said Sanji bitterly, Kaku shot his head up to look at him with narrowed eyes,

“Good, because you are my happiness so don’t think about whoever that guy is, you are not getting any chance at him.” said Kaku as he placed his head in a comfy position to rest on Sanji’s chest again.

Sanji loved this habit of Roger’s or rather Kaku’s. He was a fellow for the pillow talk and cuddles which Sanji very much appreciated. Even if it had started with the casual quick fucks, Kaku never left Sanji out cold, in bed alone in the night itself like usual one nightstands. This things had made Sanji get attached to the man. Roger was quite intelligent man, a skilled swordsman, a foodie, he was tall and handsome, skilled with computers, a little bossy but caring, Sanji had fallen really hard for the man back then, he had asked him to be his boyfriend and Kaku accepted his proposal of getting serious instead of just being friend with benefits. 

“Still bossy as ever!” Sanji said harshly fisting his hair in his hand,

“That being said, I wanted to tell you something. I am going to let you have me on the day of our marriage. I want to feel you inside me.” said Kaku and Sanji was met with yet another surprise in this night.

“You would do that for me? R-- Really?” Sanji asked with disbelief in his voice,

“Of course, that will strengthen our bond even more, plus I want to see how it feels like when your lover is inside you!”

“You have never been like this, what happened in these two years? Did somebody……you know…has anybody ever had you?”

“Absolutely not! I would never give anybody that right but you!” Kaku said firmly closing his eyes,

“Roger would you reach my pocket and get me some smoke please” Sanji said and Kaku pulled out, he sat looking around the room for Sanji’s discarded clothes, Kaku was now covered with Sanji’s seed on his chest as he had collapsed on cook’s stomach.

“Ahh! Wait a sec! You sure you want to take a smoke before you want to get cleaned up?” asked Kaku standing up and reaching for the shirt for cigarettes and light.

“Smoke!” mumbled Sanji.

Sanji was given a cigarette and lighter, Kaku left Sanji as he went to bathroom to clean himself up.

\----------------------

Morning light and alarm made Sanji wake up, he was still naked, still lying in same bed where Roger had made love to Sanji, but he was alone and all cleaned up, tucked in blanket. He felt his heart sinking again, feeling other side of the bed cold, he felt even colder, he felt left alone again, he felt unwanted again. He looked around, turned his head as he turned on his side to really find other side of bed empty, room was empty, no sound was there, no sign of Roger but the ring on his finger and set of papers represented to him had also vanished,

‘He left me, didn’t he? Did it again? Just fucked me and went away, nothing, I am nothing to him. That bastard, Why i..” Sanji’s thought were interrupted,

“I see you are up? So you want Coffee?” asked Roger as he entered in from the door,

A wave of happiness was washed over cook,

“I took the liberty of using your kitchen a bit as I knew your father would not be back till afternoon! How do you feel now?” asked Kaku in his mellow voice,

“I am okay. I guess I fell asleep!”

Kaku came to him, sat on the bed near Sanji, he immediately snuggled close to Kaku and put his head on Kaku’s lap,

“I know” said Kaku curling his fingers in Sanji’s blonde strands,

“Roger, I woke up and you weren’t there, I thought you left aga..”

“I told you I am not going to leave you again. I love you Sanji!” said Kaku, making Sanji smile shyly as he hid his face stuffing it in Kaku’s thigh.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_In an interrogation room,_ **

Sanji swallowed thickly at the memory of him and Roger together in the bed, not too long ago,

“My people are on their way to your house as we speak, they will be telling your father what you are up to and search your house for evidences, we have been issued a search warrant of your place now. If you don’t talk, if you keep hiding from me, I will talk to all the people you know and find out this bastard even if I had to scan every goddamned street of grand line myself and if I find a simple small evidence connecting you with this man, I will put you in jail for the rest of your life to rot!” said Jane in icy voice and she turned on her heels to leave even without sparing him a second glance.

“We were ………we dated when I was in school. We are lovers” said Sanji in weak voice, Jane stopped and turned back. She went over to her original position and waited for him to continue,

Jane had heard Zoro taking a sharp breath and muttering a curse under his breath,

“It started out as causal relationship, just a quick fuck, but I got serious and we started dating, we did for many days. One day he just disappeared suddenly. I tried to search for him, but he was gone, gone completely ……….like ………like never existed. He …..he came back in grand line like a miracle just before few weeks, he found about me, my number, he started calling. He called me on the day I came back from the vacation like he was waiting for me to come back. When I refused to talk to him, he broke into my house the other night just to make me listen to what he had to say.”

“I remember him telling me his name was something else, I guess he said Kaku or something, its really odd to remember, he would always be Roger to me”

When Sanji met her gaze, he felt her a little dazed out, her brows were drew in scowl,

“Jane Chan?”

“Truth so far!” was Vivi’s voice in Jane’s ear piece snapping her out of her angry state,

“Please continue Sanji!” said Jane closing her eyes, Sanji lowered his head again and started speaking.

“He…he said that he is working for some powerful people, he is involved in something very big, he said that he worked for the World government but I highly doubt that is the case now.” said Sanji bitterly but Jane had got alarmed at mention of Kaku’s name. She sighed and relaxed her tense shoulders purposely, she tried to relax in her chair a bit but she couldn’t control the grunt that left her mouth,

“Jane chane?” Jane shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose,

“Sanji we still need to search your place, maybe we will get something useful, his finger prints, his hair, anything that would help us identify him.”

“Oh..un..okay….Jane chan…. I do have a ring, here, it must have his finger print on it” Sanji said pulling over the metallic thread and trying to take ring out, Jane was amazed that he even had such a thing.

“Wait! Don’t touch that!!” exclaimed Jane stopping Sanji touch the object, she went over him as she put on the glows quickly, she inspected the ring as she took out the object off around his neck,

“Is it recent?” asked Jane, Sanji’s hand went to object mindlessly, Jane swatted his hand away glaring at him, stopping Sanji to tamper with it,

“Yeah sorry! It was last week! He gave it to me, I haven’t touched it since. Just once when I put it in this!” Sanji said in tired voice.

“Our people will take care of that. Sanji were you involved in any intimate activity yesterday?” asked Jane raising an eyebrow, Sanji felt embarrassed as he answered,

“Jane, he is not comfortable to answer that!” was Vivi’s exclaim,

“Sanji, please?” pushed Jane,

“Umm. Yes, we went to a hotel room, cheap one. I have a text message of the hotel booking that I did in the cell phone, I will give you the address if you want.” Said Sanji lowering his head and closing his eyes,

“I need you to assist our forensics department people. We need to scan you, I mean collect some data, okay?” said Jane, she was not sounding judgmental, Sanji was very grateful for that,

“Okay!”

“So, no photo?” asked Jane again,

“I have one. He is sleeping in it. I mean he would not let me have any photo so I took it without him knowing?” said Sanji,

“Why?” asked Jane,

“I had too many photos in my cell, he took the it from me last week saying its dangerous to carry his images so he bought me new one.” Said Sanji shrugging,

“So, your cellphone is with him?” asked Jane,

“Telling Usopp to track down Sanji’s old number!” came Vivi’s voice in her ear piece,

“I guess so” shrugged Sanji,

“So, you have been using another number?” Jane tried to confirm again,

“Yeah! It’s been almost more than two weeks now, I texted new number to everybody.” Sanji said shrugging again,

“Damm!” said Zoro, he had been ignoring cook’s texts for a while now,

“Other than that have you texted any of your friends frequently??”

“No. none. Why?” 

“Send him in.” exclaimed Jane closing her eyes in frustration,  

“Sending Garry inside” said Vivi,

“Sanji, I am sorry I was too rude!”

“No Jane chan, you just were doing your job! I could not be objective, I was..”

“Hey! It’s Okay Snaji, thank you for telling me everything, I need you to hand over your cell with the screen left unlocked and I need you to follow this guy to the forensics! Okay?” a man with some kind of uniform on came inside and stood at the door,

“Jane chan, do you still feel that this should be made known to Zeff …..I mean……. Would you still tell my old man about this all?” Sanji asked standing up and looking at Jane with his blue eyes worriedly.

“No Sanji, you have signed the papers? Didn’t you?”

“Papers?”

“Before the payment, you signed some papers right? It’s our thing for keeping secrecy, you can’t tell our secrets and we will keep yours with us! Now c’mon! When you finish, a person named John would take you to my office, I will be waiting okay? We need to talk!” asked Jane, Sanji simply nodded and went away with that man.

\------------------------

Jane, Zoro and Shanks were walking towards Jane’s office,

“You know what I feel honey? You figured out something that I did not?” Shanks said in calm voice, his hand was around her shoulders.

‘Really? What?’ Zoro could not help but cringe at Shanks’ habit of addressing Jane, ‘his Jane’ with such an intimacy,

“Yeah, it’s the name, Kaku! I am afraid that I know him. Kaku is Lucci’s colleague or team member or fellow assassin or whatever you call it” said Jane in irritated voice, Shanks hand traveled down to rest on her back, Zoro was observing him, giving death glares to his hand on his Jane’s back,

“Oh! One of those four?” Shanks said arching his eyebrow,

“Hm! Description matches except for eye color and the nose. Also he did say Roger Rob, it could be an absurd alias but Rob is Lucci’s Family name, it’s not just the coincidence. Something is not right here. They are talking to us, it’s not accidental.” Jane seemed angry,

“Those documents are a direct pull-down from World Governments most secure facility’s database! You think that they have such a high level breach?” asked Zoro a little confused, he walking with Jane on other side, as he was trying to avoid Shanks and his gaze,

“I don’t know Zo. It’s difficult to conclude anything as of now, not sufficient data at our end, we definitely should consider that they are, a step or two ahead of us at all the times. Anyways, we need to inform anti-terrorism unit and the GLPD cops. We don’t have that kind of manpower to cover the whole city and still keep sweeping for the bomb.” Said Jane worriedly, and Zoro gave a nod of approval to her thoughts so did Shanks,

\-------------------------

Jane unlocked the door of her office and all of them made their way in,

“It’s too much of a coincidence that a layman finds something like that, a very sensitive document and the device which he must not be even remotely familiar with, he is lead directly to us! This whole thing seems staged to me! Why the cook had to find it like that, a detonator, C’mon? Why would a terrorist carry a detonator on a date! A risky date at that! I mean he did want nobody to know he is been with Sanji or he is fucking him, there is no need to carry such an important document when you plan to spend your evening in some cheap hotel.. ” said Zoro sounding very serious. Jane gave a nod and Shanks hummed in response,

“You will find me something, my Sherlock!” whispered Jane quickly winking at Zoro, he quickly smirked slightly at her, Shanks noted that but did not showed that he did,

“They are up to something! You think I should give Ben a call, hon? You need the SOF’s or anybody from your unit? It’s too risky for direct red dragons to interfere in situations like this.” Asked Shanks as he stood by the door, Zoro was standing near white board on the wall, looking at both of them, Jane walked to her desk and took out her diary and looked in it, then started pacing in her office,

“No, I don’t need them, I really do need Law. Anyways, I have this feeling, weird one!”

“What?” asked both men in unison,

“It’s there, right in front of me, Staring in my face and I can’t see it!”

“I too feel it’s a trap! They are playing you guys again!”

“Even if they are Dad, we have to tell this thing to ATU, it’s too big a risk. Cops and SWAT will help us search while we concentrate on leads on Kaku, finding them is priority but not important than saving lives.” Said Jane looking at Shanks, he gave a nod before he spoke,

“As wise as you are baby, I do know what to do, I already have informed Kuzan. He said they are giving us the lead, I will run things from here, we have been given a complete authority over Anti-Terrorism unit. I believe you would require full tactical unit we have.”

“Yeah!!”

“But SWAT already have their hands full with the copper killers!” informed Zoro,

“Yeah! That thing! Zo, did you get in touch with Smokey?” Zoro shook his head and tsk!ed, Jane sighed before she continued,

“I don’t really think these things are independent, I mean really!! What are the odds? Everything on the same fucking day? I wish Law would be here!” said Jane bitterly,

“These people are sure spooky!!”

“Tell me about it!”

“He is back means Lucci would be in the city too. Jane, you should be prepared to face him.” said Shanks walking near bewildered Jane. Jane looked at him apologetically; her eyes gave away her insecurity,

“What is wrong baby?” asked Shanks taking her hand and making her stand in front of him as he sensed something was off, Zoro clenched his fist trying to keep his facial expressions normal.

“I already saw him…. rather I have already met him, I mean he tried to talk to me…….Twice. He was telling me that he is back for me and all” said Jane awkwardly,

“Oh! And when were you planning on te…..? Never mind! Let’s get back to work, we have our hands full guys! Best of luck!” said Shanks nodding at them and was about to turn to walk away,

“Hey, you had too much to worry about already! I am sorry! I didn’t mean to keep it from you, I was just worried about you!” said Jane in weak voice and wary face, she tried to stop him by grabbing on his hand.

“No it’s okay, I keep things from you, you do the same to me, it’s perfectly fine. We have lot of work to do, let’s get to it. Call me if you need anything, I am in my office.” Said Shanks in very low voice, barely above whisper, Zoro couldn’t even hear what he said, he gently took Jane’s hands of his and started walking towards door, she knew what that smile meant,

“Dad! I am sorry, I am not hiding anything anymore. We are now back on ‘no secrets’. Sorry dad, please, don’t be like this with me now!” whispered Jane grabbing his hand,

“You know he left? Half hour ago! Now, it’s just you and me. Jane, I don’t need you to share everything with me just because we are close or something, or I think of you as my daughter but it’s just that I should know what exactly to do when you are in trouble. I need to know what I am up against because, honey, I cannot lose you! Just be careful if you come across him today. Remember, I don’t want you to get hurt and by hurt I mean emotionally too.” said Shanks in very low voice, Zoro could not even make out what he was saying.

He took her hands in his own he made her to walk so as to be in front of him again. She looked up to meet the gaze of the taller man, to look at his worried face, Shanks’ back at Zoro, Jane was now totally hidden from Zoro’s gaze, Zoro could not see her anymore, her thin frame covered by Shanks’ muscular one,

“I am sorry!” whispered Jane again with a small pout, he smiled and sighed tiredly,

“Be careful baby. Be prepared that he would try it again, to weaken you, to hurt you emotionally. You will beat him this time.” whispered Shanks cupping her face, bending down to kiss her forehead, Zoro swallowed thickly as he saw Shanks bending down then looked away from them gritting his teeth,

“Yes! I promise!”

Shanks cleared his throat, spoke camly,

“Zoro you too should be careful, try not get distracted by their mind-games.” warned Shanks before left the office without glancing back at Zoro,

Jane sighed and massaged her temple.

“Jane!” said Zoro to snap her out into reality,

“hummm?”  

“You okay?” asked Zoro,

“No. I messed up. Messed up bad! I should have told him about Lucci. Shit!” Jane sounded irritated,

“Yeah! And you should have told him that you are my girlfriend!” Zoro huffed,

“Are you for real? He knows it Zoro!”

“Yeah? Did not seem like he does!” whispered Zoro irritated, Jane looked at Zoro and chuckled,

“You sound so cute when you are jealous!” Mocked Jane in amused voice,

“I don’t sound cute! Well, you look like you are amused eh? And he is far too touchy for my liking!” huffed Zoro again, Jane shook her head,

“He is like that from the start! Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that! He is homosexual plus he can’t feel anything of that sorts for anybody else except for Mihawk! That is the very problem! I can’t get him to like anybody else, stubborn old man!” Jane said and chuckled,

“I am just teasing you babe! It’s difficult to see my girlfriend in some other man’s arms!” said Zoro smirking as he yanked her closer, putting his hand on her back,

“That other man is my dad! Geez! And Yuk! You made it sound so fucking dirty!”

“What! C’mon! He is all ‘honey, baby, sweetheart’ over you, I am bound to feel insecure, plus you two are not actually related or something! He just considers you as his own!”

“Yeah? At least you don’t go on a killing spree because somebody accidently touched my arm or glanced at me! So I can live with the level of jealousy and possessiveness you have. Plus it’s good that you are jealous, you will always try and make me feel special!”

“You are special!” said Zoro touching his forehead with hers, now wrapping her in his arms, she put her arms around his neck, kissed his nose before she continued,

“Mr. Cold hearted swordsman took a decade to understand the love Shanks had for him! Shanks was all lonely and what not! He never accepted any other lover, not even when Mihawk got married, I have been around them for a while now, I have seen Shanks in pain, he had gone all broken; believe me it was not a good thing to experience. A man of his stature, his power and man with such influence on the world reduced to a mourning mess over his broken heart, it was too hard to watch. His devotion was perfect, I idealized him for that, he had never left Mihawk’s side ever but Mihawk does not understand that, not even today! I feel bad for him. Shanks had taken care of my every little problem, I always will be kid to him, he still treats me as one when I am with him, he often feeds me, like mother feeds children, I mean literally he will spoon feed me each bite of my meal, he cooks for me, buys me chocolates, tells me bedtime stories, makes me sleep in his lap, bathes me even! What a mother would do, he had done it all, mind you ALL, I never felt like an orphan! Please don’t ever say such thing for him, Zoro!” Zoro sighed and looked in her blue eyes,

“I was just teasing!”

“Eehh?” exclaimed Jane with an eyebrow raise,

“Okay! May be getting jealous a little! But I won’t now! Okay!”

“Sure?”

“Hmm! So, Hell of a guy hun?” said Zoro sincerely,

“Yeah! the Best!” whispered Jane,

“So, why are you still freaked out like this?”

“They are playing me again Zoro, only the threat is bigger this time.” said Jane in irritated voice and

“Jane! You telling me what really is going on?” Zoro said sounding serious now, she put her hand on his cheek, caressed his face as she talked,

“If this Kaku is the man who I think he is, then this whole thing could be just a dirty prank. Lure us out in the open, make us dance as they want while they do something else, like we end up doing the shit they lead us to believe in and they do something that we did not pay attention because we prioritize the things.”

“Oh! Create a high priority alert to suppress or to mask the low priority while they sneak in and do whatever shit they want?” asked Zoro furrowing his brows deeper in scowl, nodded Jane before continuing talking and thinking,

“Yeah! Let us apply your theory at our situation! Now what are low priority things or what are we putting for hold right now to look into this nuclear bomb bullshit? Death of coppers? O’hara? Like may be whole of our team is out searching this fake bomb and warheads and they attack here. Holy shit! Why didn’t think of it before? Thanks Zoro” said quickly giving him peck on lips, she pushed him back to stand up on her own and she walked to her desk for phone,

“What?” Zoro said confused but feeling happy for the kiss none the less,

She dialed up Shanks number,

“Dad?”

“Yes honey?” asked Shanks, Zoro rolled his eyes at his voice,

“Zoro just thought of something right now and I agree with him, we should hold up half of our tactical unit in here. Secure the building first, this is our fort, we are powerful inside, we remain in power if we have unbreakable support. Search the building for any discontinuities of the data and any tiniest malfunction, a person who is suspicious or the one who has no reason to be here. We will have all of our force outside and they attack the building, I don’t want that to happen. Just check our security first, I will be going out without tactical support after I am done talking with Sanji. I will keep Zoro and Usopp with me, station Captain Eustass Kid here till I get back, I trust him.”

“You sure, it’s a right call?”

“Yes, I have a reason to believe that it is. You have a whole of ATU and GLPD at your disposal, I want this building secured when I will leave. Bring in Iber if you want. We need to test run him for emergencies anyway”

“Okay, come to my office, I need your finger prints for Iber” said Shanks,

“Yeah! After I am done with Sanji, I will come over.”

“Okay” said Shanks and hanged up,

“I didn’t say any of it. Why you told him I said that?” asked Zoro making his way to Jane’s desk,

“What? You gave me the idea!” said Jane,

“I did not! Now tell me what going on in your brain??” Zoro said folding his hands on his chest,

“First I need to call that ice for brains, And man!! this sucks!” said Jane and dialed a number, Zoro shook his head at his girlfriend,

“Iceberg?” said Jane,

“No, it’s Paulie! He is not in the office? He is not in the building even?” Paulie’s voice was tired and angry.

“Damm! Why?”

“I don’t know, he said he had to take care of something at his old house.” Said Paulie sounding irritated for Iceberg’s absence.

“Bullshit, that place is shut down for ages. Do you know where he is for sure?”

“No, I am afraid I don’t!” said Paulie sighing a little,

“Okay cigar boy, you will send me all the data we have on a person named Rob Lucci. I want some photos from Law’s computer, so you either give me access to his Laptop or his data on server. How you want to play?”

“Jane, you can access his laptop with code I am sending you, I will mail you files right now but why can’t you access them from there? You are second in command?” said Paulie and Zoro took Law’s laptop and made his way to sit in Jane’s chair, opened it and unlocked as he took code from Jane’s computer,

“Not for this case, I was not! Just do it Paulie, ask Mihawk or Shanks if you like!” Jane said, Zoro gave her a nod as if telling the data was accessible.

“You got it boss.”

“Paulie, inform Shanks, will ya!”

“Okay Boss, sure thing!” Said Paulie and Jane hanged up. She looked at Zoro, he was looking back at her,

He arched an eyebrow to ask what was on her mind,

“Zoro, this guy Kaku aka Roger, was Lucci’s best friend, or at least he had told me that, we used to hang out together, used to celebrate and parties, he was such a gentle man. I knew him for five years as Lucci friend, he never mentioned Sanji, not even once. Never gave me a hint or a clue that he was homosexual. I need to pull up files that has data they found out about these four guys when I was in hospital when Lucci disappeared that day, Law had gone to his place, he took some evidences, photos. May be that’s where we can find something. Anything at all.”

“May be they could have accessed the place again, we should go there now and look for ourselves.” Suggested Zoro thoughtfully,

“No, I don’t want to go there Zoro.” Said Jane hurriedly sounding troubled,

“It’s just photos, maybe I would avoid those photos too if I get his photo in other files.” Added Jane, she was standing near table looking at the data getting downloaded and getting synced with her own laptop. Zoro pulled Jane in his lap,

“Why Je? You have to overcome it one way or the other! I don’t want you to get bothered by memories again. Just face all of it for once, I am ready for the consequences, I will take care of you okay? You must not avoid it, face it and defeat it!” Zoro tried to convince her and comfort her,

“Zoro, I am not ready yet! Not today! Not now! Please!” said Jane looking at him with pleading face.

“Come here!” He made her rest her head on his shoulder,

“I don’t want to do it now!” whispered Jane,

“Hmm, we will do it some other time, when we are not dealing with national security maybe!” said Zoro putting his arms around her, she sighed and closed her eyes, after few minutes Jane opened he eyes and spoke,

“Zoro, we are going to go and get Robin!” said Jane out of the blue,

“You think it’s all something to do with her?” asked Zoro,

“Hmm. Let is check it, call her.” said Jane pulling away from his chest,

“No! Bad ideal! You don’t want to alert them. We should not!” said Zoro quickly,

“Just call her Zoro. Talk casually!” said Jane shrugging, Zoro made ‘what a pain!’ face and Jane narrowed her eyes on him,

“I don’t call her, I never do, she would get specious! She is very smart!” said Zoro sounding irritated,

“Big deal Zoro? You said she was your friend!” Jane said with disbelief at Zoro’s reaction, Zoro sighed and dropped his shoulders down,

“I don’t talk to other people like I do to you.”

“Eeeh??” Jane cocked her eyebrow at him,

“Okay! Okay! Now see,….Um…. I haven’t talked to her in ages, hell I never have called her. She is my friend alright but I mostly keep it to myself, I……..I don’t have habit of talking with all of them, it’s………it’s just you, I don’t socialize much. I call Law and Ace, that too if I need something.” Said Zoro with slightly flushed face trying to explain her what he meant, Jane had a cheeky grin on her face, she was about to say something that Zoro knew would have made him blush,

He put his hand on back of her neck and pulled her into kiss before she could speak anything, she grabbed collar of his jacket and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss reciprocating his feelings with equal passion, he hummed against the curve of her mouth and made a growl at back of his throat, his hand travelling to her waist smashing his lips further inside the pillowy flesh, his hand slid inside her coat, moved up caressing her side, the shirt being the only layer between his hand and her skin, his hand moved further close to her boob, she did not resist or did not made any sings indicating him stop his advances so he proceeded happily.

Jane arched her back leaning into his touch, moaned sensually as she rose a little up, rubbing her thighs against his, she changed her position to deepen the kiss as she slid her tongue inside his mouth parting his lips. Zoro felt so much heat inside him melting his very existence into he arms, she lead the kiss further her hand travelling to back of his head as she towered above him, he thrown his head back leaning onto chair opening his mouth to give her full access.

He growled in pleasure again when he felt her tongue making love to his, he cupped her left boob in his right hand and Jane gave a moan suddenly loosing grip over his tongue, he liked the her sudden reaction he didn’t know that she would react like this.

Her moan was swallowed by his mouth and his tongue took charge now, invading her mouth as his hand continued massaging her soft sweet mass in his big hand drawing soft noises from her, she drew back a little but he had all of it in single grip.

“Zoro!” whispered Jane in Zoro’s mouth, this was his first experience to touching a woman’s bosom, he experimentally moved his thumb on round structure to touch her nipple, finding the erect pointy structure going harder under his touch. Zoro noticed her breath hitched as he tried to pinch it between his fingers, earning a soundless whimper.    

\-----------

“Jason?” exclaimed Sanji dumb folded, Jason did not behave like Jason at all, he was different, shit!! he looked total opposite of Jason, very confident, in fact a little cocky, his sharp and serene voice, his composure, the way he was talking, everything was just different,

“No! Please don’t ever call me that! My name is John, Jason is for the family business and organizing things for her, I am her manager, adviser, counselor, lawyer and many other things because I am john! Nice to meet you!”

“So, you are his twin br..”

“Yes, yes! Now let us get you to see Jane!”

“So, you know about me?”

“I know everything, I am John! Please follow me or you will get lost Mr. Black!”

“Please call me Sanji! I am friend of..”

“You are sue chef at Baratie, I know what is your favorite Colour and favorite cuisine, I know your first crush and your last one, I know how you got your passion for cooking, I know who dated you, Isn’t that why Jane interrogated you?”

“You know about Roger too?”

“Last girl you had sex with was Venessa, then you wanted Zoro but it didn’t work out obviously and you were in the ‘Valentine night’ yesterday though you booked a night stay at ‘your kink’”

“Jane knows about it?” asked Sanji, he felt standing far too away behind John, he knew Sanji had stopped walking when John mentioned Venessa,

“She doesn’t need to know, all she wanted to know how much she needs to push you around for answers, I told her that she had to ask until you tell her about the guy from yesterday because my sources tell me he was too suspicious to be normal person who just was there to fuck his guy, we couldn’t get his face on any camera, he was very smart, cleared his tracks so brilliantly, I couldn’t recover shit.”

“You did all that since I mailed you guys”

“Of course, not every case is taken up by Jane, I have to do the background check, check the authenticity of the matter!”

“John!”

“Don’t worry, its between you and me! I like skeletons that does not mean Jane likes them too. I am just here to protect her in few ways that I can, I have to be best at what I do!” Sanji started walking again,

“I think you are!”  said Sanji was being taken to an office that he was told to be as Jane’s, John was guiding him there, he made him stand near his table, Sanji looked curiously at the door and glass wall covered with curtains, while he waited for John to call in and take permission to enter, John was collecting all the papers to present to Jane; Sanji was observing closely at the glass pan, he caught glimpse of Jane and Zoro making out. He couldn’t place his finger on what to feel but he looked away closing his eyes.

\---------

Jane’s desk phone ringed snapping them out, she pulled away from him, his one hand was around her waist another was on her left boob, her hand fisting his hair at the back of his head and other was tugging on his shoulder. She smiled biting her lip and Zoro smirked at her, she shook her head and took his hand away from her boob, turned back to press the button on phone device,

“Yeah!”

“Jane, Sanji is here!” Sighed Zoro, Jane jabbed him playfully.

“Yeah! Bring him in!” said Jane and got off Zoro’s lap fixing her suit and her hair, she entered some code and door lock opened,

“Sanji, please do come in.” said Jane seeing John and Sanji at the door, 

Sanji entered and got impressed by the look of the office, interior was elegant and beautiful, mostly everything was white and gray, a big desk on which lay two laptops, a separate monitor, a small brown old looking diary, a photo frame facing the one who sat in chair, desk phone and some device Sanji didn’t know. one wall was covered in artistic shelf which had books, music and various files placed neatly, the glass wall behind her desk was having a good view at the city from above there as curtain on that side was open, ceiling lights were amazing, chairs were of unique design so was the Sofa, there was a white board on which some things were written and some notes were stick, Sanji saw Zoro’s handwriting on in. he was so busy gawking at the office her did not respond to Jane,

“Sanji! Hey, you okay?” Jane brought him back to reality by placing a hand in his shoulder,

“Yeah!” said Sanji regaining his composure,

“Please have a seat! John can we get some coffee in here!” said Jane, John nodded and went away handing some papers over to Jane, Jane was looking at the papers and Zoro avoided to look at the Blondie while he accessed the data from Law’s computer.

“Je, there is hell lot of data, what you want to access exactly?” said Zoro and files were just popping up one by one,

“Yeah! Search for Kaku or Rob Lucci and cross reference with data with O’hara case.” Jane said looking at the papers, she made her way to desk and put the papers on table,

“Got anything in there?” asked Zoro not taking his eyes off screen,

“Yeah! Finger prints, body hair, animal hair, traces of different cologne, saliva, may be other fluids!” Jane whispered,

“Finger prints! I don’t think they are such a pushovers, I bet they did not leave finger prints behind!” said Zoro ‘tsk!’ing, as he looked at the data sent by Forensics, Jane knew reading all that things were disturbing for Zoro, she saw his eyebrows knitting into scowl, she put her hand on papers to make him look at her,

“You stop doing that Zo!” whispered Jane,

“Babe, you tell me what do I do?” whisper yelled Zoro getting frustrated, Sanji noted the way Zoro addressed he,

‘So, they have really gotten together, haven’t they? This is Zoro? Really, God never would have imagined him calling anybody ‘babe’!’ thought Snaji,

“Okay big guy, make the call, C’mon, you gonna make the call or not?” asked Jane arching her eyebrow,

“I will call Luffy and ask him to add her up in conference call, how does that sound?” Zoro asked as he pulled his phone out. Jane shook her head and gestured him to stop,

She cleared her throat and made her way to Sanji, sat near him, he was looking down,

“Sanji, I am sorry I had to speak to you like that back there! We had no other leads and you should not have hidden anything from us, there is really nothing to be feeling awkward about, if you want us to help you should have told us the whole story and if there really is a nuclear weapon out there then I am have to make sure that I stop it before it blows up my city and all of us along with it. I had to make sure you give us all the information whether you think it is related to that case or not. It was nothing personal okay?” said Jane in soft voice and trying to sooth his troubled mind.

“I understand.” Said Sanji in tired voice,

“I know how it feels, I really know what you are going through Sanji, I am really very sorry for what happened to you! I am going to find him for you; no matter what it takes, okay?” Said Jane placing her hand on his shoulder, assuring him that he was not alone in this,

“Believe me Jane chan, you don’t know how it feels to be left alone and used. You don’t know how it feels when the person you trust the most and person you love the most, leaves you behind, alone; even without giving proper reason.” said Sanji bitterly.

“Sanji, hey don’t fe..” Jane was cut off by Zoro,

“No Cook! She knows!” finally spoke Zoro in his deep, angry irritated voice,

“Zoro?” scolded Jane and gave him ‘what the hell?’ face,

Sanji looked up first to Zoro, then to Jane as Zoro was looking at her, Sanji looked at her with soft eyes, he just could not think about what Zoro meant, 

‘So, he wants to say that somebody did that to Jane chan? Is that why she said that?’ thought Sanji,

“Sanji, the thing is I want you to help me if he tries to contact you before we find him. I know it’s been difficult time for you but you don’t have to do much, just have to go around your daily schedule and act normally, I am putting a wire on you, you just have to hide it from him. I am giving you these papers and this device back, you have to put it inside his pocket again or if he had found out that it’s missing you have to return it without being or sounding suspicious. He will try to call you and meet you for taking back these and Kaku is very smart, he must have figured it out by now. You will have to come up with some excuse, tell him you accidently did this, lure him out for us. I know it’s not your job and it’s so unfair to you but will you help me this one time?” asked Jane,

“Help? You know him Jane chan? …” Sanji sounded so unsure,

“This is your chance to apologize her properly for all the bad things you did to her Cook! Pulled a dirty prank, asked her to deny to me and all!” spat Zoro angrily, Jane sensed something was off about Zoro, Sanji swallowed thickly at the thought,

“Zoro! Don’t make me order you to shut up!” said Jane in authoritive voice,

“Yeah! Whatever!” said Zoro busying himself looking at the photos, he took a sharp breath in as photos opened on Law’s laptop.

There was a polite knock on door, John came in with a waitress on his heels, she had a tray in her hand and she served coffee to all three of them and they went out quietly,

Zoro saw old photos of Jane and Lucci together, mostly selfies Lucci took with his arms around Jane; Zoro muttered a silent curse under his breath as he looked at Lucci’s smirking face while he held Jane close to himself, a pang of jealousy made his blood boil in anger, he saw all the photos of penthouse owned by Lucci that Law had captured for sake of investigation, he understood why Jane did not want to go there, he felt bad for Jane.

‘Shit! That bastard really made it difficult for Jane! All this and how could he have heart to leave her like that? Seriously Jane that Bastard did not deserve you or your love! I am gonna make you forget him! You are mine Je!’ thought Zoro narrowing his eyes on Lucci’s face in photo,

“If you have found some photo of him, give a print of one already!” said Jane, Zoro nodded but did not say anything,

“Sanji, I think I know this guy, I know him even from before you knew him. Kaku, he was best friend of my Ex-boyfriend Lucci Rob. I have known him for five rather six years. He was here in grand line all this time.” Said Jane and Sanji was looking at her bewildered, there was sound of a printing machine, Jane walked and went over to machine to take a look at photo, it was photo with date of four year’s back stamped on it, Kaku’s birthday party, Jane, Lucci, Kaku, Paulie, Bluno, Tilestone was there in the photo. Jane looked away from photo as if to block the memories and presented the photo to Sanji.

Sanji looked at it confused, he saw them all together happy and smiling, this taller guy with raven hair had his arm around Jane’s waist, Jane had a beautiful red dress she looked so stunning in it, on other side of her was Roger, she looked happy with them like they were her family. He looked at Roger, who was looking at Lucci and Jane, saying something to them, smiling at them,     

“Jane chan, what is wrong with his nose?”

“That is what I don’t know, maybe it was a disguise! Fuck! It felt so real, like Ussop has. Maybe he had a twin brother! But he did tell you that his name was Kaku. This is the Kaku I know, so what are the odds?” added Jane, Sanji nodded and looked at photo again,

“Yeah!” mumbled Sanji,

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**In the car moving towards the downtown area,**

“Hey! Don’t be mad at me Je! I did not say anything wrong now, did I?” said Zoro as he drove the car towards Robin’s place,

“I would lie if I would say that I am not pissed at you!” Jane said looking away from him,

“Jane, he needed to know that he had to help us and that he had owed a lot!” Zoro said as a matter of fact,

“Why do you have to treat him like that Zoro? Wasn’t he your first crush? It was not even him who texted you or sent me those photos, it was definitely Lucci and his bunch!” Jane said getting angry,

“Yeah! But what about what he did in the past? Does one good work make you good person and you are forgiven for your evil deeds?”

“Evil deeds? Seriously Zo, there is definitely more than that photo incident! It’s there all over face! Now tell me what are you exactly so irritated about?” Jane asked stubbornly,

Zoro sighed and he knew that he was angry at Sanji, he was angry for more than just one reason. Zoro was so embarrassed that he did that to Jane, he already had told Jane how Sanji treated him so that was not a big deal but still it was fucking shameful,

“Jane, there are two things, one of them, it’s fucking embarrassing!”

“Tell me anyway! You only wanted me to share and talk, now it’s your turn!”

“Okay! Okay! Geez! First is Sanji himself, I just can’t stand him now. Bickering and fighting is all okay with me, but he had done some terrible things. I can’t forgive him for what he did to you, though unknowingly, he hurt you a lot! Anyways, when you were in the interrogation room, you were debriefing him, I found out something yet another one of such things! You tell me Je! How do you feel if you are getting intimate with somebody and the person you are with is moaning somebody else’s name while being with you?” said Zoro sounding irritated. Jane closed her eyes and thought for a second,

‘Why Sanji? Why you did that to Zoro? He never deserved something like that! He is so involved and devoted when he is with somebody! I can’t just express what it feels like to be in his arms, like nothing in world is going to make him look away from you, he makes me feel as if I am only person in world he wants to be with!’ thought Jane, Jane felt bad for Zoro, she did want to make him feel better but this was not time to hug him and show pity for what had happened in past, she opened her eyes and narrowed them on him,

“Baby wasn’t that you who told me to get over the past?” Jane said putting her hand over his arm, he nodded and sighed,

“Yeah! But when I heard his name, when I heard him say ‘Roger’, I recalled Sanji doing that to me and I got pissed! I am sorry!” said Zoro shrugging,

“Hey! Don’t be sorry! And what is second thing?”

“Hun?” asked Zoro confused, actually pretending as he did not want to tell Jane that he got angry over the older photos of Jane and Lucci being together,

“You said there were two things!” Jane said narrowing her eyes on him,

‘Okay, I am not keeping anything from her, she is honest with me, I also want to be loyal to her!’ thought Zoro.

“Je, I saw the photos, Law had photos of the penthouse. That pissed me off even more!” said Zoro quickly, Jane snorted bitterly before speaking,

“And you wanted to go to the very place! Whole place is covered with those. Even I can’t bear it now!” chided Jane bitterly, Zoro looked at her sad smile,

“Yeah! Figured that much!” said Zoro,

“Forget it! We aren’t mourning over our Ex-s’ treatment to us, we won’t anymore! Rather I won’t, I have got you now!”

“Gee, thanks! And Why Law has it all in there??”

“Nope, no idea and I don’t care, ask him yourself!” Jane knew he had that data but she chose to avoid the topic with Law,

“Yeah! I guess I will………Enough with that stuff, I will call Luffy now!” said Zoro and dialed him,

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What is going on Luffy?” asked Jane panicked,

“Sana, they are saying that Robin killed Ice pops and Police are all over her place, they are breaking her stuff and searching the house, they said that she killed cops too and she is not even answering her phone, me and Nami, we are looking for her now!” said Luffy in one breath sounding pissed off,

“She what?” exclaimed Jane and Zoro.

“Yeah that is what I am telling these idiots! You know where Ice-pops live? That Rope guy lives at his place, I need to tell them that Robin cannot do such a thing! She is very nice person, she would never kill anybody!” said Luffy panicking.

“I know Luffy, I trust you. I will call you back when I find Iceberg okay?” said Jane in confused voice,

“Okay Sana, so you and Zoro are going to help us ne?” asked Luffy,

“Yeah definitely! Where is Ace?” asked Jane,

“Oh! He is still away!”

“Okay, be safe. Bye for now!” said Jane and Luffy hanged up saying bye to Jane and Zoro,

“Holy shit! This is all about her? That witch!” Zoro exclaimed,

“Iceberg is dead? I don’t believe it!” exclaimed Jane,

\--------------------------------

Jane tried to call Shanks, she tried every option but she was cut off from Hawkeye network.

“Zoro, I can’t reach our people, our devices are not working! Look! Everything is dead!” said Jane,

“Try calling Shanks on his private number from public pay phone?” said Zoro stopping the car near one,

“Yeah!” Jane said and got out.

\-----------------

“No use, looks like whole building is locked down, nobody can contact any personal inside the building. It’s like it has gone ………..holy shit! Iber! He must have sensed some danger inside the premises and locked down the building! Or maybe Paulie had something to do with it!!” exclaimed Jane and Zoro nodded,

“You were right hun! Building was attacked!” Zoro praised,

“I am afraid that might be the case! Shitty bastards!” cursed Jane,

\------------

Jane had been receiving calls from all working captains and agents spread all over the grand line that they were all off the network and they could not contact office, she was out of options, calling Ben was not very intelligent move so she decided to call Mihawk instead, Jane nodded at Zoro, they were seated in car, she dialed his number and put him on speaker, he immediately answered her call,

“Mihawk!”  exclaimed Jane,

“Yes, I know. I had Iceberg implement a special security system which locks down building indefinitely had it ever sensed some viable threat of explosives, person without proper authority, any nuclear or biological danger, I got notified approximately 10 minutes back, your response time should improve. Anyway, It is not Iber but it’s Iceberg who locked the building down, and his life is in danger. You are in command of all the task force on the ground now. I am already on my way back, I will take care of the danger in the building. You go ahead, take the chilly bitch down.” Came his deep sharp voice.

“Yes, sir!” said Jane,

“One more thing Jane! How much of a heartless or cold hearted bastard you think I am, I do know how to protect my own! I made sure that nothing bad happens to Shanks but you better take care of yourself!” that brought a sweet smile on Jane’s face but Mihawk had already hanged up before Jane could say anything to him.

“Look who actually cares!” chided Zoro, Jane smiled but shook her head.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Paulie? Why are you calling from this number? Are you not in the building? You know about Iceberg?” asked panicked,

“Jane, Nico Robin shot him, she and her friends those Dammed Straw hats, they are trying to kill him. I am with Iceberg right now, his condition is bad, he is unconscious.” Paulie sounded so angry.

“What? Where the hell are you?” asked Jane,

“I can’t tell you that!” said Paulie quickly,

“What? You don’t even trust me now?” yelled Jane enraged,

“No, not like that. Our systems have been compromised, I can’t trust phones anymore. Follow your instincts you are going to end up finding us Jane, you know where to look! I am destroying this phone. Come soon Jane, we will hold the line till then.”

“Who is we?” asked Zoro,

“Me and Tilestone! Goodbye!” and Paulie hanged up.

\----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jane went to downtown, all captains and their teams who were currently engaged in searching and following leads for finding the nuclear device and the terrorists, she called them up and asked them meet her at secondary station they had set up in the downtown, in an unused warehouse of Galley la,

“Heads up boys, I have a good news and bad news!”

“Bad news first!” yelled all in unison,

“Hawkeyes! Our castle had been closed off due to danger inside! No support from our people from there, we are on our own! Our comm lines are not going online any soon so we are communicating with these little devils! Bob, pass out those radios will ya?” said Jane,

“Ow! Man! It’s old School!” yelled one guy looking at old fashioned radio,

“No Shit! What we are what…..GLPD bitches now?” yelled another sounding disapproving,

“Quite whining like a GLPD bitch!” yelled Jane, they all broke into laughter,

“What’s good news Boss!” yelled a man,

“That nuclear-bomb-shit is off our asses, ATU is gonna handle it but Shanks had been given a lead, so we are off the case.” Summed up Jane,

“That ain’t a good news, Boss man!” yelled a man,

“Yeah! Those pussies are not going to find it! I am too young to die!” another one exclaimed.

“Hell! I don’t wanna die unmarried!” yet another one yelled,

“Boss we are having a good lead, please let me do this boss!” the one in the front requested Jane, she narrowed her eyes on them, Jan sighed and folded her hands over her chest,

Zoro smirked at her before turning on his heels to face all the men stood in front of Jane and him, and

“Ten hut!” yelled Zoro snapping all of them out of their whining, they all pulled their selves together and moved little to fall in lines,

“Stand before your commander at attention you maggots!” yelled Zoro. They stood in organized manner at attention and saluted Jane, a projector came to life displaying images of three men and two women,

“We are soldiers!  We are warriors! Not frat boys with trigger fingers!” scolded Jane in loud and bossy voice,

“No excuse Commander!” yelled them in unison apologizing,

“New orders from the high! Our director, Mr. Iceberg is been shot in the chest, somehow survived the attack. We have to find these four possible suspects and this woman named Nico Robin the one with raven hair. Robin is the package. Others are our primary tango! When you see them shoot to disable, you won’t shoot to kill! Clear?”

“Yes Commander!” was the reply in unison.

\------------------------------


	19. She is Mine!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The face off....finally.............
> 
> Lucci and Zoro come across each other, face to face.......... Jane is challenged in a different way, what would she do?
> 
> What is Lucci gonna do? What would he do to make her listen to him?  
> So, yes, he begs Jane to come back, he overpowers Zoro at first, exactly like OP
> 
> But, if its all well if it ends well right? Oh! But is it the end??

**She is mine!**

Jane was angry now, just so pissed that she could feel her face going red with anger.

“Damn!!! We are late!!”

Many Hawkeye agents were knocked down unconscious all around the building floor, many others were also sprawled on ground,

“This is Tango Alpha one! Officers down! Officers Down! Immediate medical assistance required, 2nd building on the north of Freddi’s gray, I repeat, medical assistance required, we have officers down! Do you copy?”

“Shit!!”

“Nobody??” asked Zoro, Jane shook her head,

“Fucking com-lines!” Jane muttered a curse under her breath as she took in the whole situation while peeking from their hiding place, she narrowed her eyes and focused on a window pane when she noted a shadow moving,

“Zoro, take a quick look around, see if any of them are gravely injured? I am going in ahead. Just don’t give away your position. Get rid of that radio! And make sure you call some help without using it, try not to alarm our enemies and tell others, if any, to be silent about it too!” Jane said throwing the device on ground,

“What about us? We are using cellphone? I need to know you are okay!” asked Zoro setting up the connection again,

“Affirmative! That would be quieter!” Said Jane, gesturing him to get his earpiece,

“Okay Boss!” said Zoro taking a look outside with his binoculars,

“Okay! There is something going on up there, at the fourth floor! I am gonna go and check up, you join me as soon as you complete the sweep, see if we can use anything from there!”

“All these people, they seem alive, just knocked down! Babe, I think we should keep together, all these people Jane, they must be strong whoever did all this.” Zoro said getting ready to jump into battle along with Jane, checking his gear and swords. Jane was doing the same with her guns but she stopped her actions, brought Zoro closer gripping his vest, she checked Zoro’s gear, then helmet then tapped on his cheek, he felt like kid, Zoro snorted as she put the earpiece properly on him, she checked the connection again and spoke,

“I will be careful! We need to make sure none of them requires immediate medical attention. Every life is important, they are our own! You do as you are ordered to dear Lieutenant!”

Jane took a long breath looking into Zoro’s eyes and then suddenly placed innocent little kiss on his lips and quickly withdrew, he could see slight blush for a second before it vanished,

“Yes Sir!” said Zoro grabbing her chin and kissing her quickly before walking away,

\-------------------------------

When Jane made it to up there, Iceberg was on floor, bleeding, his already bandaged up torso was wounded again, he had new bullet wound in his arm, Luffy looked like he was unconscious, Nami was handcuffed, she was sat in corner with her badly hurt leg, she looked so sad and angry, Paulie was badly injured too but looked conscious, sprawled on the floor near Luffy, Chopper was injured too and was seated near Nami, he looked in panic,

There were four hooded figures, masked with hidden faces; one stood near Iceberg, threating him with gun at his head, another one near Nami and chopper, with Nami at gunpoint; yet another, very tall and bulky man, stood by the entrance and a masked girl was standing by the window Jane was near to,

“I am not going to tell you anything even if you kill me!” exclaimed Iceberg sounding stubborn, one could tell he was in lot of pain, his voice was trembling,

“Who in the hell are you? What you want form Sir Iceberg you bastards?” Paulie was enraged,

‘Oh! He is not unconscious! That’s relief!’

“Still so naive and slow! Even in the defeat!” said the bulky man,

“Nico Robin! You are doing wrong! You must not let them do this!” said Iceberg looking at the hooded figure in front of him with frown on his face,

“Don’t lecture me! You don’t know anything about me. I will do as I please, now tell me where is that device? Where are the blue prints? Where have you hidden it!” demanded Robin,

“Robin? Why are you doing this?” yelled Nami sounding so disturbed,

“Robin, please don’t do this, we know you are a good person, we know they are making you do this! Do you really hate us? But we are friends, right?” exclaimed Chopper innocently,

“I told you I am not coming back to the crew. I told you to stay away!” Robin said in impassive voice,

“She did, didn’t she?” mocked another girl,

“But they came here to take blame, how convenient!” said the bulky man,

“Shut your trap! Robin, you can’t leave the crew, and even if you want to, that doesn’t mean you won’t be our friend?” Said Luffy, as he sat up dusting his clothes and putting his hat back on his head,

‘That’s good, he woke up!’ thought Jane,

“Yes and even if you don’t want to our friend anymore, why help the world government bastards whom you avoided for 20 years? Why Robin?” asked Nami,

“That is none of your concern!” spat Robin,

Jane was observing them from the broken window pane, hiding behind the wall, she was deciding how to handle the situation, when she heard Zoro talking,

“Je! Where are you?” Zoro was looking for her as he climbed up the staircase,

“God Zoro! How can you get lost in the stairs, I am on fourth floor. I found Iceberg and many more, Luffy is also here Zoro, it doesn’t look good, second last room on right come fast!”

“Okay!” said Zoro, a minute later he spoke again,

“I see a red door” said Zoro,

“What? No, turn around, walk back from there, climb up you moron!” whisper yelled Jane,

“Sure? Stop confusing me babe!”

“I am not confusing you, you dimwit, if you are not here in next five minutes, I am going in without you!”

“No, wait for me!” exclaimed Zoro,

\------------------------

Luffy was taking heavy beating from a bulky man with mask and bull horns and he was overpowering Luffy effortlessly, Nami and Chopper were not putting up any fight but Paulie tried to save Iceberg but took a bullet too.

“Damn it Babe, I am going in!”

“Wait Je!” yelled Zoro,

But Jane leaped in from window to capture the woman in the freaky mask. The girl struggled against Jane’s grip but she could not fight of Jane’s attack and got captured.

“Stop! Stop it!!”  

“Stand down or I will shoot! I swear, I will shoot her!” Jane warned them,

All of them looked at Jane, finding the masked girl had been captured by a Hawkeye agent, they stopped their attacks,

“Sana?” Luffy yelled,

“You weren’t supposed to be in here Miss Jane! Why are you here?” Iceberg looked confused and pissed,

“Stay alive Iceberg! Just stay alive, I am gonna take you home!” said Jane firmly to the bewildered Man,

“Drop your weapons and I promise you can keep your lives for Now!” Snarled Jane, she had the girl in the freaky costume at the gunpoint, choked her under her arm and held her in such a way that the girl would shield Jane against the shooting other masked suspects might would have done,  

“Well, you got me!!!” exclaimed the girl in captivity and started laughing, Jane’s eyebrow twitched,

“What the fuck is so funny? You think it would be funny of I shoot you eh?” sat Jane getting annoyed by her attitude,

“You can go ahead and kill her, we all are expendables and we cannot return unless Iceberg has spilled the beans!” said another man,

Jane shot him in the arm, he hissed withdrawing his hand off Luffy’s neck, Luffy collapsed on the floor with a thud, coughing and catching his breath but Jane quickly shot another man in the leg who had shot Paulie earlier and put gun point on the captured girl’s head again.

“Those are flesh wounds and they would heal just fine, next time that won’t be the case when my bullet hits you! Now drop your weapons and let these people go!” Jane said angrily.

“We can’t, we just want some information from Iceberg, tell him to open his mouth and this all will stop!” said a girl with Raven hair and dark big violet eyes,

“Robin? Robin Nico! Why?”

“That should be simple enough, I am quite the infamous woman you see!”

“I am here to protect you. Let him go! Please you need not do this, I can protect you. Now, let him go!” Jane pleaded her as Robin threatened to shoot Iceberg,

“I definitely can trade his life for hers!” said Robin,

“What are you doing Robin? She is our friend!” Nami screamed,

“You can trust her Robin! She is here to help!” yelled Chopper.  

\------------------------------------------------------------------

When Zoro made it to the upper floor …………….to the point where he could see Jane, she had her back at him as she was taking on a man and blonde girl simultaneously, Luffy was fighting with big bulky man with bull mask and all others were on the floor injured along with Iceberg who was bleeding out badly and Paulie had wounds too, Zoro stopped dead in tracks and took out his swords, as was about to run to the window to jump in……..

Suddenly Zoro noticed a presence behind him, he deflected a punch and fought back a fierce kick which would have hit him in the guts,

“Look at your lover for once!!” spat the man,

“What?” Zoro turned his head to take a look at Jane,

Zoro looked at Jane and found two red spots illuminated on her back, stark contrast on her navy blue clothing and black shield, he collapsed on ground when he was hit in his stomach only to notice Lucci standing in front of him and some man with the mask was restraining him, he was struggling with all his might and both of his attackers were trying to contain him with chains, he stopped struggling and let them restrain him dropping his weapons,

“Oh! You know what that is!! This is called power over others! It’s your weakness!”

Lucci was smirking as leaned on a wall nearby,

“Sick Bastard!” cussed Zoro, narrowing his eyes on Lucci,

“On your knees Roronoa!” spat Lucci, Zoro experienced a force on his shoulders, he was forced to kneel,

“Good! Now that you have been put to your proper place, let us exchange some words!” said Lucci calmly and gestured the second attacker to do something Zoro could not see.

Soon Zoro experienced his hands been cuffed behind his back and his leg was chained, Lucci was looking at Jane and restrains on Zoro’s body were getting heavier, now a piece of cloth was tied on his mouth,  and something was pressed inside his mouth gagging him,

“Oh! I must tell you Roronoa, that thing which you are holding between your teeth is essentially a detonator, exactly the same, a part of which you people found earlier today. I need not tell you, that if you so much as move a muscle or try to open your mouth even slightly, this place will blow to the bits along with all of us and this whole city. So, If you care about your pretty boss whom you dream of being with; you would be a good little boy and keep your mouth shut like that!” mocked Lucci, Zoro had an urge to curse him and yell at him but he did not move his mouth anymore as he secured the trigger between his teeth.

Zoro gave a throaty growl and Lucci looked at him,

“Am I wrong? Don’t you dream of being with her? Don’t you dream being in bed with her? I know how irresistible she is! Who can know any better?”

Lucci was eyeing his ex-girlfriend and Zoro growled again,

“What is wrong? Cat caught your tongue? Actually it did, didn’t it! You know Roronoa, I so much wanted to Kill you when I came to know of you, how Jane has an interest of romantic nature in you. But I had to control my rage, to show Jane that I can be what she wants me to be, I will admit that it was a little of hard for me if not too much. But I am glad that I kept you alive, at least for today. She might have liked you a little, but she is still in love with me, I know it and I am going to take her with me.”

Zoro growled violently tugging on his restraints,

“So, you are not inclined to believe? You think you are special to her? You think you can replace me? Okay Let us check it then, she is such a private person, I know nobody knows her and her secrets like I do!”

“If you would help a little!” Lucci glanced at the man standing behind Zoro,

A guy with mask came forward and kept his hand Zoro’s wrist, as if checking pulse,

“Let us see how deep your connection is with her, how much you know her. Starting with the obvious, Her favorite food?….. favorite color?……  chocolate?…. Favorite movie?…oh! She doesn’t have favorite movie, well!!.... her favorite weapon?…... favorite poison?…... her favorite cocktail?…” Zoro’s pulse was normal all the while but it quickened at the mention of last question,

“No, he does not!”  

“That’s a shame! You remember a drink I offered her back at the rain dinners, you were right next to her weren’t you? I saw you two that day, you didn’t particularly look like a couple you know, when I used to take her on dates, she would always be in my arms. Looks like you do remember! I took her to talk to me, you couldn’t find us and when you did, all you did was to run away!”

Zoro wanted to grit his teeth and rip off his smug face, but he knew better than to risk anything,

“That is her favorite drink by the way. Anyways, we are just getting started….. You two had your first dance yet? Oh! You have! Okay! First date? Oh, you had that too! I am just teasing!!......the drive on her Augsta? I know you have had that!......... Her favorite Car?”

No response from Zoro, Kaku also did not say anything. Lucci was getting pissed getting to know that Zoro had gone deeper than he thought, he didn’t want to go there because he wasn’t sure of what he would find but he needed to make sure he humiliates Zoro completely,

“I am getting a little impatient here. Did you touch her, kiss her??” Zoro’s eyebrow twitched at his question, he tugged on the chains and they made a metallic sound, Lucci came near to Zoro and took his gun out to keep on Zoro’s forehead,

“……I am really doing all I can to keep me from killing you Roronoa, you kissed my girlfriend? Unforgivable!!” snarled Lucci, he was actually uncomfortable at the thought of extent of how much Jane had let Zoro in, Lucci narrowed his eyes on Zoro and took the gun off his head.

“Okay Mr. Roronoa, tell me how did you like the scars? Aren’t they hot! They make her even hotter, don’t they!” said Lucci licking his lips, Zoro narrowed his eyes on him and growled managing to blurt out ‘enough!’

“He knows!” was Kaku’s quick comment,

“Well, then do you also know who inflicted them upon her?”

“He does”

Lucci hissed and spoke again,

“But what you don’t know is what happened to that man? I captured him and I made him go through the very suffering he had given to my Jane.” Said Lucci in low voice, Zoro looked at him speciously, 

“Yes, Roronoa, I made him suffer. I gave him twice as much scars as hers! I counted 176. I am sure you also did….unless….Oh!” said Lucci smirking, Zoro blinked, his pulse was high and he felt wobbly looking at him for a second before regaining his composure.

“He doesn’t!” said Kaku sounding uncomfortable,

“Kaku, Leave us. Proceed to the next phase and make sure everything is as per order just as we planned.” Said Lucci, his eyes never leaving Zoro’s, both were giving each other death glares,

“Sure! We will be waiting for you.” said Kaku and left them,

After a silent minute, Lucci’s smug face turned even smugger,

“So, you think you are closer to her? You think she let you in, bring down her walls for you? You thought that you could get her to love you back! Just because you know few things about her that are not common knowledge to her friends, that does not necessarily mean that you are the one in her life, the one in her heart.  Let me guess you haven’t seen all of them have you? So, she has kept her distance. Or maybe you are completely ignoring them. Though that is a generous approach, it is not easy to ignore when they are ……” Lucci abruptly stopped and closed his eyes in memories, Zoro growled giving him warning, Lucci smirked and continued,

“I cannot describe how it felt to have her in my arms! hmm!” purred Lucci closing her eyes,

“So perfect………. she really is unique, her skin, her taste, her scent, her mindlessly clinging to me while in sleep, her hands around m..” before Lucci could go on with his talk, Zoro snapped at him,   

“Shut your trap you sick bastard!” Zoro would have chopped him in thousands of pieces,

“That’s is unexpected as well as unpleasent, talking with that thing in your mouth! Let me tell you one thing Roronoa! You won’t be able to experience this but yes, Jane is simply exquisite in bed. I have fucked many girls before her, but Jane, No! We made love. She is special you see, it was totally different with her, now I cannot do it with anybody else. She is a perfect match for me, I never had to hold back with her. When we did it for the first time Oh! I could not stop myself, she wouldn’t let me, I went on and on, all night long and it was s…” Lucci was smirking as he talked but Zoro’d rage blew his mind off,

“Fuck you asshole!” Zoro wanted to kill the man, daring talk such things about Jane,

“I cannot even tell you how amazing it feels to be inside her, the way she moaned my name when she came, feeling of getting drunk over her sight, the feel of..!” there was sound of metal chain cranking and breaking off which made Lucci stop talking, Zoro had fire in his eyes as he glared at Lucci,

Zoro had almost freed his hands, Lucci gave devilish smirk before got behind him and restrained his hands again, there was blood coming out of the cut flesh of Zoro’s hand, 

“Oh! You do well and stay here because if you don’t I will make sure that nobody leaves this place alive! And Yes, **Jane is mine and mine alone or she simply won’t be anybody’s!** I am taking her away from this place and away from you for forever, one way or another she is gonna be mine. She does not deserve the likes you, I have been with her for far too long, longer than you.”

“She doesn’t love you anymore!”

“Yeah? Keep telling yourself that! Anyway, I am done enjoying that look on your face, I am just leaving you alive for now, because if I killed you she wouldn’t be forgiving me anymore let alone talk with me!” spat Lucci in Zoro’s ear and looked at Zoro smirking sickly, he bent down and placed a device on ground,

“Here, I will extend you the last ounce of my mercy, you will able to hear her a little before this place starts to fall apart and in turn takes your life. Goodbye Roronoa! It was fun………. having a conversation with you!”

Lucci walked away from him, fixing his suit and coat, a small angry tear droplet came rolling down Zoro’s left eye corner, his face was red from anger, he could not move and nor could he speak or talk with Jane, his Jane, he could not warn her that Lucci was coming to get her, to further ruin the things, he was rendered helpless……

‘Jane, Baby what do I do? Please just contact me somehow, or just leave, go away from here……’

\------------------------------------------------------

‘What the hell are they up to?’ thought Jane,

They were just fending off her attacks, never attacked her while a new guy in mask that had just appeared out of nowhere had interrogated Iceberg along with Robin, they were just trying to buy some time as they fought Jane, simply keeping Jane at bay and damn they were strong. As Nami and Chopper were put under the life threat, Jane was being strong armed not using her guns but to fight one on one,   

“What are you stalling for eh?” yelled Jane when her powerful kick to the gut sent the big guy with bull mask to the corner and she used the window of opportunity to get to Nami and Chopper but another thin guy stopped Jane, she was trying to get past him but the other guy recovered from Jane’s kick and got back on his feet with defensive stance, 

“Isn’t it about time you reveal your faces? Though I have pretty good ideal who are you!” Jane said panting,

“Damn right it is!” came a very familiar sound and Jane’s blood ran cold at that sound.

She turned her neck and Lucci walking through the door as calm and collected as he always were, as if her was entering in some conference room for a meeting and not into some bloodbath that was going on in there.

Suddenly all the masked men and the woman went away, standing calmly in positions near wall which was far away from Jane, they still had Nami and Chopper at gun point. Luffy had his back against Jane’s, while Pauile was laying on floor unconscious, Iceberg was badly injured and was still being interrogated by Masked Man who also was standing away from Jane,

“Don’t think that I didn’t see this coming Mr. Assassin! So, there was no Nuclear weapon and no actual threat, you just like to play people, may the threat be anything you don’t care as long as you get what you want!!” said Jane coldly as she took a defensive stance now, taking in all the new changes in the environment as she did not know what made all of Lucci’s teammates stand down,

“I know that you know and I say, that I had every intension of letting you in on what we were up to!” said Lucci when he stopped at few feet away from her and stood looking at her calmly,

“Why don’t just you go ahead and shoot all of my men and me! Why all this drama! Why you made all these people dance around the whole fucking grand line like puppets and you say, you had every intension letting me know??”

“It is not like that Jan…” Lucci was talking but Jane interrupted him,

“No, you just want to manipulate people! You like them like that, at your mercy!!”

“We did not kill anybody if you haven’t already noticed, Jane, I am not here to kill anybody, I am simply here to extract some information and gather the evidences and intercept the devices that are the property of the world Government. Only killings done were by your brother’s friend, Nico Robin, she already is criminal who has death penalty so we cannot add more to that.” Said Lucci as he put his hands in pocket,

“Bullshit! You are here to feed us wrong info and kill iceberg as you did not get chance to get to Mihawk or Shanks! You thought you could destroy our building?” said Jane in angry voice narrowing her eyes on Lucci,

“No. It’s bigger than that Jane, look, we started off on the wrong foot. We are veteran intelligent agents, we are not working for some private firm or assassins for some mafia, we work for the World Government. We are field agents of CP9, I can tell you now as we have completed out mission but we had no choice but to lie back then, we were under cover you see! Don’t you do the same when you go under cover?”

“By the same you mean, lie to them that we love them, for 6 years I might add and ask them to marry us and then use them before we left them hang out to dry!” spat Jane,

“Jane that was the very mission, to be near to you, to gain your trust to get to Mihawk and Iceberg, to gather information on Mihawk and Iceberg, but you were not only intelligent, smart, beautiful but also strong-willed and powerful, I had no chance whatsoever to get any information about the cases Hawkeyes handled or anything about Iceberg from you. I was not supposed to fall in love with you, but I did!” said Lucci in deep voice and he sounded so true,

“My my, Lucci!” exclaimed a blond girl, Jane relaxed her shoulders and stood straight, she glanced back at the girl who had commented on Lucci’s statement, she recalled her being with Lucci in _Baratie_ that night, she gritted her teeth at memory,

“I see, you remember me! We are just friends, we don’t have anything like that between us, you know! I was just acting to be with him! Don’t worry he is all yours!” chided the blonde, Jane glared at her in anger and looked away from her,

“We work for world government Jane!  I am not saying that this is all legal and ethical, but yes, this is in the best interest of the betterment of the world, it’s the Justice. We have to do whatever it takes to serve the higher purpose and that is what CP9 is all about!” said Kaku now removing his mask, Jane looked at him over her shoulder and shook her head,  

“Kaku! Or I should call you Roger?”

“Jane, I am sorry! Please forgive me for lying to you! I never meant any harm to you, I want to be your friend and I am patching things up with Sanji, it’s difficult to tell him about CP9 but I soon will.” said Kaku softly,

“9th division in Cypher Pole?  That another bullshit you recently came up with? Do they hire on basis of how good you lie, how good are you to think on your feet and how quickly you make things up?”  

“Jane, you could ask your brother about CP9, Mr. Dracule Mihawk, he knows about the CP9 though not about its members but he is familiar with the concept. CP9 does not exist on paper, that has its own privileges of course, when Government wants to get some dirty work done and still cover their tracks we are deployed. You can’t trace us, you cannot catch us, you cannot make your case against us, no lawsuit can be filed against us anywhere in world because we don’t exist and we only exist when Government wants us to.” Said Lucci as the matter of fact,

“So, what this so called Government of yours wants form Robin and Iceberg?” asked Jane, Lucci started walking towards her, she got conscious and her hand travelled to her gun strapped on her waist, she looked at him suspiciously as Lucci started speaking while he slowly made his way to her,

“That is classified but I am willing to tell you that she is to be taken to Enneis lobby and she is coming with us willingly as we have offered her a nice deal. We are merely correcting a mistake form the past, she should have been dead over 20 years ago but she has accumulated the life of sin for too long, her very existence is threat to the justice. As for Iceberg, we have got all we wanted from him so we will be leaving him here. And rest of the things I can explain while we are on our way to our destination! Now come!” dared say Lucci offering her his hand,

“What the hell? I ain’t going anywhere you sick idiot, least likely with you and Robin is also not going anywhere, she is the eyewitness that I have to protect and you are not taking her from right under my nose, I am not letting it happen!” said Jane in voice that sounded like a warning,

“That’s right Robin, let us fight this together!” said Nami,

“I have a wish that they are granting me, the one that cannot come true as long as we are together! If you can’t accept that I am sorry!” said Robin stubbornly and turned on her heels to show them her back,

“I am not letting you bastards take Robin away! She is our friend!” yelled Luffy,

Lucci sighed and looked at Kaku, Kaku nodded, within next minute before anybody could do anything, Nami and Chopper were shot with something that made him fall to ground as they passed out immediately,

“Why you!” said Luffy and Jumped to Lucci to attack him, 

“No Luffy stop! I will handle hi..” Before Jane could make him stop and jump in front of Luffy, Lucci leaped forward and threw Luffy back to wall with one powerful blow, Luffy got back on his feet and started punching and hitting Lucci but Lucci would not budge, Jane was restrained by the blonde woman and Kaku. Lucci was not getting affected at all but Luffy did not stop hitting him, Jane got Kalifa and Kaku off her after injuring Kalifa and jumped to Luffy who was held with his neck in Lucci’s hand,

“Lucci leave him alone right now!” yelled Jane pushing Lucci away from Luffy, he dropped Luffy’s unconscious form on ground, Jane checked for severe injuries on her kid brother’s body, there were bruises but no broken bones or anything, she was surprised by the fact that Lucci held back,

“Now, nobody will disturb us talking!”

Lucci dusted his coat, his statement hit Jane like a bucket of cold water, she had been wondering for a while now about ‘how the hell the phone connection got cut off with Zoro’. Jane stood up and turned back to look at Lucci, he was looking right at her,

“Where is Zoro? What have you done with him?” asked Jane gripping front of his coat,

“Oh! He is not well, but yes, he is not dead either. You need to come with me, we have to leave soon, I told you I am here for you and I want you back!” Lucci stated as of it was that simple,

“What part of ‘I am never coming back’ did you not understand eh?” yelled Jane angrily,

“Listen Jane, you just n..”

“I am not coming back to you, whatever you have to say I don’t want to hear. So save your breath and leave me the hell alone and more importantly, you are not taking Robin away. On the contrary, you come with me, tell me all the things I want to know after I arrest you and we may come on talking terms you understand that?”  

“No. I am going willingly, you cannot stop me and you cannot protect me from anyone, nobody can.” Spoke Robin bitterly,

“What is wrong with you lady?” exclaimed Jane in panic, Lucci moved toward Jane calmly and tried to grab her arm,

“Jane, please, baby let us just..” Lucci was again cut off with Jane’s angry yell,

“Don’t TOUCH me!” Jane pointed a gun at his head, Lucci sighed and closed his eyes putting his hands in his pockets,

“Nico Robin should not have been alive, we have let her live for more than 20 years, she deserves what she is getting, you will agree when you have seen her files, now come I want to tell you everything!” said Lucci taking a step towards her, she took a step back, the gun in her hand still pointed at his head, Lucci glanced at Kaku and he nodded as all of them scooted out of that room, only Kaku and Kalifa remained in there,

“Listen to yourself! I pity you Lucci! How could not I see this darkness in you before? I mean I knew you had a temper, I also knew very well that you are stubborn and insanely strong for a software engineer and super rich for an orphan but how did you hide this coldness from me all this time? I am utterly disappointed with myself!” said Jane with glassy eyes,

“Jane! I am not as cold as you think I am. I love you baby!” said Lucci taking a step towards her again, his hand gestures urging her to stop backing away from him,

“Oh! Yeah? Just like you did all those years you were with me, pretending to be happy?”

“I really love you so much!!”

“No, you don’t! And even if you do, I don’t anymore, I can’t love you and I never did love the man that you are, this sick person was not the one I fell for. I don’t know you, so stay away!” yelled Jane with pain and disdain in her voice,

“Jane, you do love me, right now you are just angry at me.” said Lucci stubbornly moving further towards her,

“Stop right there! What agenda you have this time? You, again…you just want to ruin everything that I hold dear? Wait! Where is Zoro? Tell me right now where is he, you must have gone after him, he is important damn it, tell me what you did to him, you psychopath!” demanded Jane in furry,

“I just have him restrained a little bit! Really, I haven’t as much as draw his blood! I swear on my own life!” convinced Lucci, but Jane gritted her teeth as she heard distant voices from her earpiece, she noticed the Hawkeye communication system had just gotten online,

“Zoro! Where ever the hell you are, if you have become a victim of one of his mind games…..” yelled Jane as loud she could,

“Jane, stop!” said Lucci furrowing his brows,

“….. and if they have captured you but if you are conscious, try and remove the restrains and make it to fourth floor, he is just playing all of us, I need you to take care of our friends!” yelled Jane,

“Baby, you stop that right now!” Lucci said coming near her, she did not back off now, she looked him in the eye and steadied her hand as she loaded the bullet in barrel of the gun and pointed gun to his head, Lucci still did not stop moving towards her, now bending downwards he pressed his head on gun, taking his hands to his back, looking Jane in eye he continued talking,

“I love you, I always had, I just did not have heart to understand what exactly to do until Kaku helped me understand!” said Lucci looking her in eye,

“I will shoot, I swear!” Lucci closed his eyes as he bent his knees and got down, Jane surprised at his actions but lowered her hand to keep gun on is head none the less,

“You should shoot, I did wrong you and I had no right to do what I did. Jane, my love, I apologize for being such a pain to you! I am sorry that I hurt you but if you just give me a chance, I would make sure nothing would ever pain you or hurt you, I promise to make you happy!”

‘What the hell?? Is this really Lucci?’

Jane’s heart skipped a beat, she swallowed thickly at thought of Lucci apologizing, she shook her head with disbelief, Lucci opened his eyes to look at her, she had a look of shock on her face, she was taking heavy breaths,

“I know; me apologizing and kneeling?? Yes, this is my first time, the feeling is not quite as disgusting as I thought it would but it’s unpleasant none the less. If I die by your hand, at least, the one I love will be the one who took my life instead of some enemy that I might have fated to die against fighting in future!” that slight smirk on his face, his steady eyes boring into hers,

Jane’s eyes were wide, her hand went unsteady as her finger pressed in on the trigger further down, gun was shaking, nobody moved, Kaku and Kalifa were standing very far from them and Jane’s resolve was wobbly as her were hands,  

“Jane, I love you very much, baby, just come back to me. I cannot live without you! Forgive me for just this last time or just kill me and free me from this world because if it is not going to be without you then I really don’t want to be, no more”

Lucci pressed his head on the gun and closed his eyes,

‘Don’t do it Je!’ Zoro said in his mind, he was listening to their conversation while trying to break the restrains,

There was pin drop silence, she could hear her breathing, her heartbeat, silence was thickening by the minute, her head was going numb,

‘I wish I could believe you and I really could have if you would have come back the next day you left, but no, you are just toying with me again, aren’t you? Saying such things…..apologizing….Out loud… making such a face….so out of character for you? What the hell you are having in mind, why would you cause me pain again and again? All I ever did was to love you; then why you did this to me, why are you doing this now? Why you had to come back??’

Jane frowned and her face contorted in pain, she grunted in disappointment as she took the gun off his head and hit him in face with back of her hand which held gun,

“Very convincing performance Mr. Lucci Rob! Could have earned you a ticket to HBO!”

“Jane?” exclaimed Lucci wiping blood clean of his mouth and nose,

“Jane what? Look Lucci, this building is now surrounded, you are not running away this time and nor does Robin, so go on use me as hostage but as you said you all were expendables then you know sure as hell I am too, now go on and blow this thing up let us die together!” dared Jane,

“That can’t be, your building is shut down and your systems are offline!” Kaku threw a suspicious glance at Kalifa,

“Yeah? You thought I did not know that? Unlike you, we have people who have heart along with their brains! So what is your exist strategy lover boy? You are getting arrested or you are getting your ass kicked? You may be better than me or any other fighter we have here but you too are no match for 10 tactical units of Hawkeye!”  

“Boy! You are smart!” exclaimed Kalifa,

“Eustass, I hereby authorize you to take care of this mission, don’t let them escape, I would do best to keep the people inside alive, including myself but don’t count on anything other than your guts, no matter how many we have to sacrifice, these people won’t get away this time!” said Jane out loud sending death glares to Lucci’s bunch, eyeing them suspeciously,

“…” while Jane was listening to Eustass’ reply, she noticed Lucci gesturing Kaku with his hand to report something to somebody, Kaku nodded and did something on his cellphone,

“Okay, there will be no further communication from me!” said Jane and she disconnected the line,

“Jane, what is it going to take? What have I to do to make you come back to me?” said Lucci suddenly getting up and coiling his arms around her, he was so damn fast Jane just could not run away from his grip,

“Get the hell away from me!” yelled Jane, he took the gun away from her and threw it on ground, Lucci’s hands gripped Jane firmly and smashed her in his chest,

“I missed you so much!” whispered Lucci and sighed in satisfaction at the feel of her body against his,

“It’s not working Lucci, this is not going to help you get away!” said Jane trying to push him back,

“I don’t need this to get away and you are coming with me, you will come to know how much I really love you once you are with me!” said Lucci calmly as if she was not panicking and giving him death glares,

“So, you want to force me to come with you people? Like you haven’t tainted my love already?  You want to do such things too?” said Jane in hurt voice as she stopped resisting him, he made some comfortable distance between them and bent down to look into her eyes, he put his hands on her shoulders and spoke,

“No, I wanted you to understand that I have realized my mistake and you need to know that you are still in love with me. I know that you have been visiting my place even when I was gone. I know you have missed me too, Jane please don’t make to force my way in again! You know I won’t quit, that is how I got you in the first place, remember? The more you resist, crazier I get! I am mad about you baby and you know that!” said Lucci looking into her eyes keenly, her brows were knitted in pain and she was having hard time avoiding his comments, she swallowed against the dryness in her throat and shook her head silently conveying her disagreement,

“You are under arrest for murder, more than five attempted murders, extortion and kidnapping the eyewitness of O’hara case!” Jane said as she took out handcuffs and slid one on Lucci’s wrist but before she could do it with another wrist, Lucci gripped her neck from back side with his hand on the back of her head and crushed his lips on hers,

“Muuurrnnnnnnngh!”

Jane struggled to get away, he gave a growl of satisfaction as he tasted her lips on his, that was euphoric….

He could not control his thirst and bit her lips harshly as tried to overpower her, it was a needy kiss, very desperate biting, he was marking her and she was helplessly trying to push him away with her hands, he closed his eyes in the satisfaction of her feel in his arms as he sneaked his other hand around her waist, brought her flush against his chest and lifted her off her feet in the process of kissing her senseless.

Her eyes welled up with warm tears and wetted her cheeks as she squirmed helplessly to get away from his death grip, her fingers scratched his skin to draw out his blood, disgusted by the fact that he forced her into a kiss she took one of her hands to her back and took out yet another small handgun and it seemed that it was already loaded as she put the gun against flush her head and pulled the trigger……….

\-------------------

Zoro had been listening to everything that happened in that room due to curtsey of Lucci’s, Zoro was cutting down the last restrain on his leg when he saw Lucci forcing himself on Jane,

“That Bastatrd!” yelled Zoro and started running towards the room Lucci and Jane were in, he saw Jane taking her handgun out and pushing it flush against her head, he jumped in from the window,

“No Jane! Don’t do it! Lucci!! Stop her, you idiot!  She is shooting herse…” yelled Zoro but the Gunshot made him stop dead in his tracks,

\-------------------

“Shit!” Kaku said in panic,

“What exactly happened?” exclaimed Kalifa,

Kaku, Kalifa, Robin and Bluno were bewildered at the sudden actions from Jane, it all had happened within fraction of a minute, nobody could do anything, their eyes wide open at Jane’s unconscious bleeding form in Lucci’s arm, Zoro was just a step away from entering the room, his hands were badly injured, he took a sharp breath at sight of Jane’s unconscious body in Lucci’s arms.

Lucci quickly dropped his knees on ground, put her on the floor gently when Zoro reached over to them, Bluno and Kalifa were restrained him again, Zoro was panicked and enraged, the next second he noticed something awkward, Lucci was removing something from her arm which looked like long thin bullet like structure, it was some sort of dart which stuck out of her arm,

“What the hell is that? What is going on?” asked Zoro,

Lucci had his mouth on her wound trying to suck poison away from her system, she started shivering and white foam was coming out from her mouth, Lucci was sucking the blood out from her arm spitting it on ground but Jane’s breathing was getting unstable as her heartbeat, Kaku came running to them recovering from shock and took out two bottles and a syringe,   

“Antidote!” said Kaku looking at Lucci,

“What is happening to her? Who poisoned her?” demanded Zoro,

“It was a mistake!” replied Kaku,

“A mistake? I am gonna kill you all if anything happens to her, you hear me you bastards?” cursed Zoro,

“Like I will let that happen! Please keep quiet; I am trying to save my girlfriend!” Lucci wiped cleaned the white substance but blood started coming out from her mouth, his brows furrowed in worry,

“Inject her with the antidote immediately!” said Lucci spitting blood in his mouth, he felt weak due to effect of poison in his own mouth, he was blinking violently to make the dizziness go away,

“We don’t know if it will work in her case!” said Kaku in low voice,

“Goddamn it Kaku, give it to her right now!” yelled Lucci, Kaku had already prepared the thing and now quickly injected her with the bright blue liquid from one of the bottle, then repeated with red one.

“Lucci, poison is affecting you too!” exclaimed Kalifa,

“We will see about that later!”

Some minutes later the blood stopped coming out of her mouth, she opened her eyes to see Lucci and Kaku near her, a thin line of blood started running out from her nose now, she could feel g=her limbs going numb,

She saw a creepy fellow, thin dark man with weird hat and pearl necklace with big rings in his ears making his way to her,

“These are the rest of the antidote bottles, she would need two more after six hours!” said him giving the bottles to Kaku,

Lucci gave him with death glare and looked at Jane, he found feel of hurt in her eyes, Lucci took her hand and planted a kiss on black of her hand,

“Sir, I didn’t know, I panicked. I thought she would shoot herself and we were out of darts so I fired that thing on her arm, but I took wrong gun! She is going to be alive at least, she was shooting herself in the head!” said the freaky man,

“You were ordered not to touch her, let alone harm her with poison, you could have informed us, we could here you!” said Kaku disappointed, pointing his finger to earpiece they all had in their left ear,

“And who is this?” demanded Lucci looking at Kaku,

“Based on what Korgy said this must be the new recruit named Nero!”

“Hey New Guy, you get your emotions get the better of you!” said Lucci coldly,

“I saved her Life!” exclaimed Nero,

“I had it under control, look at the bullet hole in glass and I knew what she was doing, I wouldn’t let her kill herself, she just wanted me to stop kissing her! Had I done something any sooner then she could have done different other things to kill herself, t had to be timed perfectly. But you poisoned her.” said Lucci calmly,

“But I thought..” said the guy trying to explain himself but got stopped by Lucci’s blank stare,

“I give you 3 seconds to run for your life!” growled Lucci giving him a death glare,

“Run for my life? Run from whom?” exclaimed the guy,

“Three!” counted Lucci,

“Two!”

“Run from whom? Stop Kidding!” Nero said panicking and started running away but Lucci took the gun which was in Jane’s hand and pulled the trigger to shoot Nero in head and he collapsed on ground,  

Lucci put the gun down on ground and looked at Jane, she was looking at his face, her face was blank, so were her eyes, no emotions, her eyes were distant and cold,

“I need to go now sweetheart. You are heavily poisoned, you need immense medical care for minimum two days, I have no resources to keep you safe while travelling without drawing any attention, I am sorry again that it had to come to this, you went as far ahead as killing yourself hun! I guess I love you even more now! This poison would be there in your body for 26 hours, you won’t be able to move, use these bottles after six hours each, the worst has passed. I am going to comeback for you once I am done with this mission, we have arrested Robin, she is going to the prison for the rest of her life till her death arrives as per World government rules and I am going to put an end to O’hara once and for all. My next mission would be bringing you back to me. So, this is good bye till then, my love!” said Lucci as he kissed her forehead and then her hand, Jane felt paralyzed, he body won’t move, she wanted to take her hand away from his but she could not even move her hand.

Lucci and his team acted as of Zoro was not even there, Lucci stood up and took last glance at Jane, he nodded at Kaku.

There were explosions heard all around the building as they walked away from Jane. Lucci glanced back over his shoulder to glare at Zoro who had Jane held to his chest protectively, Jane’s eyes were watering badly as she could not close them,

“It’s hurting? It must be, I…….I am sorry baby, I was not a help at all, I could not do anything!” said Zoro with deep sad voice, Jane couldn’t respond to him,

“Don’t feel bad Je, we would find another way around this! I am gonna make them pay, I just need to get you to safety first! Help is on the way, just hang in there for me!” said Zoro wiping clean the tears, he noticed saliva was coming out form her open mouth, he closed her mouth and wiped the liquid and then it occurred to him about her eyes, he gently closed her eyelids, he gave a sigh and water stopped coming out if her eyes. Zoro kept her in his embrace as made soothing circles on her back and he hugged her firmly, the structure was collapsing down but Zoro covered Jane and protected her for debris falling on them,

After many sounds of various explosions and gun shots, Jane felt her consciousness slipping away to the darkness, she was still held by Zoro when she last felt her body……..

 

\------------------------------------

When Jane could feel her limbs and move her eyelids, she struggled to open her eyes, she found herself in a familiar room, she had started hating that room, she is been here again and again, it was her third time to lay on that bed in last five months in that room which smelled of medicines and plastic.

She turned around and found her red haired parent looking right back at her, she sighed and blinked at him giving him a blank face,

“Well, at least you are with me! Not in some hospital facility far away from my place in the building!”  said Shanks as if he knew what Jane was thinking,

She still found hard to smile or to move her facial muscles even, but she managed a slight smile,

“Good recovery kid!” said Shanks patting her head,

“Want some real food or still want this ivy lifeline of some salty water?” chided Shanks,

“hunnm!” Jane managed to grunt as she nodded slightly,

Shanks sat near her, bent down and kissed her forehead,

“You got me worried there!” said Shanks and put his hand at the back of her head and put his other arm around her on her back,

“Try to get up baby! You have been dug in like a tick for far too long!” said Shanks as he helped her get up, he got her in hug, she moved her arms a little but she felt very tired and out of breath, an alarm went off, Kaya called immediately as the speaker came to life,

“Captain? Sir Shanks? What is happening? Is she awake?” exclaimed Kaya in worried voice,

“Oh Dear! Calm down! It’s just her breathing! It’s quite heavy but I think she is gonna be okay! You still should come and take a look!” said Shanks in replying her,

“Yes Sir, of course!” said Kaya and hanged up,

“There, I got you!” said Shanks softly taking Jane in hug and balanced her weight till he adjusted the bed settings, moving it up at an angle comfortable for sitting position, then he gently put her back on bed, now she was sitting comfortably,

He combed her messy blonde hair with his fingers, she hummed mindlessly and felt her breathing evening out, she felt calm and at peace though she had millions of questions but she knew Shanks had handled everything perfectly.

“I know what you want to ask, I will tell you everything while we have some soup ne? Kaya will check you up, I am in kitchen but I know what will be going on in this room so don’t just dismiss her, let her do her job okay?” said Shanks getting up, Jane nodded, he gave her a smile and waved her bye on his way out of the room,

\--------------

Jane was having broth and Shanks was telling her about one of his war experiences and he was telling funny pranks they pulled as he fed her the soup,

“Tastes awesome!” said Jane smiling at Shanks,

“Good! I am awesome!” Shanks gave her big smile,

“You seem in good sprites! What is going on? Didn’t I just lost your firm another case?”

“Jane, you did not lose, you saved us all. We found a military grade biological weapon active and ready to go off, right inside in our own premises, the building that we claim to be unreachable and if you would not have made that call of keeping half of tactical unit stationed in here we might had lost all that we hold dear; also I would not have been able to send you backup unit when the systems went back online.” Said Shanks ruffling he hair,

“But they still got away!” said Jane sadly,

“Yes, but we had received a call directly from Mariejoa to give up on the O’hara case, so we have not to take any action whatsoever against it, officially! We had to let them go even if we had arrested them.”

“Those damned old farts, they eat this-so-called-Justice for breakfast! ‘Give up on O’hara case’ my ass! They just want to cover their dirty work. Think… they can buy lives? I could not find her and when I found her, she had to betray us and her own friends?” said Jane getting angry,

“Jane!” Shanks said trying to calm her, he presented yet another spoon of broth in front of her mouth and she sighed and drank from it,

“Shanks we have mole in our office!” said Jane after swallowing,

“Vivi is not a mole dear!” said Shanks,

“No, not Vivi, Kalifa was Iceberg’s secretary? Really? I didn’t even know her, Kaku and Kalifa had been coming and going as they please, you heard me, they were in this very building for I don’t know how long and they bribed people, we have to sweep Iceberg’s office you know!”

“I know, we are in the process, you cannot debrief each and everybody by yourself so we are not wasting time on words!” said Shanks and Jane sighed as he stuck another spoon of broth in her mouth,

“I should have shared the file with him long back, Zoro could have gotten to Robin every fast and all this would never have happened!” said Jane,

“Speaking of your boyfriend, he was really worried over you, was devastated actually!” said Shanks smiling sadly at her, Jane narrowed her eyes and avoided the next spoon looking away,

“Where is he? Is he okay? I actually wanted to see him!”

“I am sure you do, he was here for nearly two hours before they decided to go after CP9!” said Shanks,

“They what? They can’t! CP9 are so str……….. I mean……..hey, didn’t you just say that we can’t do anything about it!” said Jane worried,

“I did, but I said we can’t do anything officially!” said Shanks making her take the spoon full of soup,

“What you did?” asked Jane gulping it.

“I did not do anything, Luffy, Zoro along with his friends left for Ennies Lobby on their own!”  said Shanks as matter of fact,

“What? Air traffic is grounded there, you can’t even get a permission to have your jets land there anyways and they just had this rail….Oh! They took the sea train, there was warning issued of the seasonal typhoon in that part of sea! Shit! Why did you let them go?” said Jane panicking,

“Honey! It was not my decision to make!”

“But dad…..” Jane said with worried face,

“Jane, don’t you trust your own boyfriend and your brother?” asked Shanks, Jane closed her eyes and sighed,

“No, it’s Lucci that I don’t trust!” said Jane bitterly,

“Jane, he hurt you, I know and I am lucky you didn’t get a panic attack but he did number of Zoro too. When Zoro was here last night, he sat near you at this very spot where I am, he looked very sad and disturbed. He stayed for an hour, when I come back some time later just to check up on you he had his head rested on your belly, I saw him near tears, I did not disturb him just went away” said Shanks in calm voice,

“Did he say anything to you? Is he angry with me?” Jane sounded troubled and worried,

“Jane when I came back I saw him kissing your forehead and I wanted to go back to give you guys privacy but I stopped when I heard his voice, I would like to quote what he said ‘Jane, I know you don’t want me to do anything reckless but I can’t let them do whatever they want and get away with it, this not only about revenge, I may not even get to fight him but I am not going to let you take fall for us because we were incompetent. I am gonna bring Robin back!’ and then he said that he loves you and then I walked away.” Said Shanks,

“I don’t know dad, he is so nice person and I don’t deserve him at all!”

“Don’t say that! Anyway it’s his call not yours!” said Shanks quickly cutting Jane off,

“Hm! That’s what Law says!” said Jane as she sighed and relaxed on bed, 

\--------------------------------

**_After Two days, in the evening……._ **

Jane had recovered from the poison, she was back in her apartment, but she was not in a good mood so Shanks decided keeping her company so he stayed at hers when not in office, they did not let her work, Kaya had suggested four days complete rest but Jane was never one of those who obeyed doctors so she was locked down in her own apartment so that she would not train or go to her office.

Jane was seated on floor, in corner of the room, she had her side leaned on wall, one of her leg folded as it touched the floor and other bent at knee with her feet rested on the ground, she had in her hand a glass having scotch poured in it with two ice cubes, a bottle of her expensive scotch was put near her on floor and she was looking at the old scrapbook which laid on ground in front of her, her other hand turning pages of scrapbook,   

“I am home honey!” chided Shanks as he entered,

“Oh! Did you pick up the children on your way back dear?” mocked Jane in funny voice, looking at scrapbook that had photos of Shanks’ old house, she had her back at the door and did not see him entering,

“Yes, I did, all three of them, youngest one is being pain in ass!” chided Shanks walking towards her, what she also missed was Zoro also had entered the room along with Shanks and was smirking at their comments as he shook his head at their antics,

“Oh! They all are, just like you are! In fact you are the biggest” said Jane not sparing him a glance, looking at her photo with water gun in her hands and she was pointing at Shanks in that photo. Shanks narrowed his eyes on her and then turned to look at Zoro and gestured him to keep quiet,

“What are you doing?” Shanks said looking over her head and bending down a little,

“Our scrap book!” said Jane not taking eyes off the photos,

“And why exactly am I the pain in the ass now?”

“Because you locked me up in here, like the stupid wicked mother to poor Rapunzel!” said Jane turning over the page to look at next set of photos,

“That means you get to meet your prince charming!” said Shanks hoping Jane to look up and notice Zoro who was standing right behind her,

“Huh! Please!! Unless he has a stupid cheeky lopsided smile and shocking stupid red hair, I am not going to see any prince coming to my rescue!” Jane deadpanned,

“Boy, you are pissed! You never complain about my smile, I thought you like it!” Said Shanks with mock hurt,

“It’s stupid because I won’t be able to stay pissed at you after I see it on your stupid face and that is exactly why it’s stupid!”

“Wow! You sure are in good mood!” said Shanks as walked to bed after he mouthed ‘you are lucky’ to Zoro and he smirked mouthing ‘tell me about it’,

“I don’t want to see your face so go away and don’t sleep in my bed, wicked mother!”

Shanks smirked and Zoro sat at the space behind her leaning his back against the wall Jane had her side leaned on, the way she sat, she was avoiding to look at her room and all that was there in her room along with its other two occupants,

“Hey, this happens to be my only daughter’s bed!” said Shanks trying to sound angry and threw himself on her bed

“Yeah? This daughter happens to tell you to go the hell away!” said Jane as she poured herself another drink,

“Okay, tell what are the other 109 things you are pissed about!”

“You mean this one isn’t enough?”

“Oh sweetheart, I know there is more!!”

“Okay, have it your way then……..What about you stop feeding me those stupid carrots, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, I mean C’mon! I feel like I am gonna turn into some goddamn vegetable! You know what, I had a dream, Zoro asks me out on a date and broccoli grows out of my head, you believe that? I would take on 100 Mihawks at a time than watching that stupid dream again” said Jane, the ice cubes in the glass clinked on glass as she put it down to pour her another drink but Shanks had busted out in laughter the moment she mentioned her dream and Zoro was suppressing his laughter so hard that his cheeks tinted red,

“Seriously dad! If you are cooking those vegies and I am having some kind of soup, I am drinking scotch my stomach full, you got that you stupid old man!” said Jane disappointed, Shanks calmed himself down and sighed to be able to talk, 

“Honey, I just was taking care of your stomach, you were poisoned!”

“No Shit! And you ruined my appetite!”

“Okay what about…”

“No, don’t cook today, you sound so tired! We will have some takeaway or just ask that stupid shitty cook to whip something for us!” said Jane casually,

“Everything is stupid today hun? Okay! Let’s see. I know! What about steak dinner? Your favorite! I promise!”

Jane’s eyes sparkled at the sound of steak, her mouth watered and she stopped looking at the photos but she didn’t look up, she closed her eyes and sighed, Shanks sat up to note her reaction and smirked a little,

“Jane, Steak! C’mon baby, it will be perfect. I know, it may not compensate for that horrible dream but I will try to add some flavor to it!” Shanks couldn’t help but sputter again,

“I want Garlic and parsley…” added Jane skeptically raising her eyebrows but hiding her facial expressions from Shanks as she spoke,

“Yes love of course, also, Shallots and chili …” continued Shanks,

“And _Malbec_ …” quickly added Jane,

“Deal!” said Shanks smiling,

 “Potatoes too!” Jane added childishly as she hummed at taste of the drink,,

“Yeah, Potatoes too!”  Shanks smiled and fought back an urge to pat her head.

“Now go!” said Jane,

There was no reply from Shanks, Jane scrunched her nose and closed her eyes trying to figure out if Shanks really was gone from her room or not, she waited for some minutes then sighed again and combed her hair back with her fingers to take them off her face, something soft and warm touched her arm near the wound, Jane jolted up in her position at sudden contact, her hand retrieved back instantly to disconnect the contact,

“Sh…Shanks?” whispered Jane,

Her closed eyes could not see but she felt it,

The honey-colored knuckles gently brushed her arm near the wound, the skin was still tainted with greenish blue stain due to the effect of poison, she felt a surge of lightning bolt flowing through her body as the tingling of touch was felt by her, making her open her eyes,

Not only she did not hear Shanks walking away but she sure as hell knew that Shanks’ touch wouldn’t have made her tingle,

“Zoro?” whispered Jane with disbelief, ‘he came back already?’

“Yeah! Would you look at me now? Or you don’t want to see my face too!”

Jane turned her head back to look at him, shifted a little and jumped on him, he smiled and took her into a hug,

“Missed you too!” whispered Zoro,

Zoro hugged her firmly but she pulled out too early for his liking,

“Are you still mad at me?” she looked worried and her eyes and half of her face was hidden behind those messy blonde locks,

“I was never mad at you!” Zoro gently brushed away her hair, he noted her tear stained face and black circles under her baggy eyes,

“Zoro I am sorry!” said Jane as a warm tear slipped from corner of her eye and trailed down her rosy cheek,

“So, you have been crying your eyes out hun? I guess, you should be sorry for that, But I am here now, am going to take good care of you from now on!” said Zoro cupping her face in his hand,

“No, I am sorry that I let all that happened to us, I am sorry that I let him…..…” Jane was cut off by Zoro’s statement,

“Je! You didn’t let him do anything; he just forced himself on you! I am not saying that I am not angry, I am…so damned pissed, so goddamned pissed because you went ahead and shot yourself!”

Jane looked at him bewildered,

“Yes, I know everything! But it is no use scolding you, as much I hate to admit this but it’s making me sick to my stomach that I let that happen to my girlfriend, there are very few things that I regret and the thing just added to the list.”

“Zoro it is not your fau…”

“Just tell me one thing babe! What about me eh? What would have done without you hun? How was I supposed to live like that?”

“I was…..I could not just…I was angry at him and I was worried about you and I thought he hurt you, I felt do bad, I just wanted to see you, just once….I just, you were in my mind Zoro I could not bear him violating me like th…” Zoro calmed her down with hug,

“It’s all finished now!” said Zoro in hug.

“Hmm?”

Zoro bedded her head on her shoulder, near his neck, he ran a hand though her hair,

“I Don’t know what to say. What now Zoro?”

“What you mean?”

“You still have a chance to save yourself from pain worth the world….you know, like I kept telling you, Zoro, I am no good for you! I am really messed….”

She sat up, looked like she was about to start crying again,

“You are! I can’t help but think back at the time when you tried to kill yourself. Can’t just get it out of my head!”

Zoro gently brushed his knuckles on her jaw line, leaning in to follow them with his lips to kiss her but stopped as he touched his lips to hers and pulled out suddenly.

Jane was worried why he did that but he then traced her lips with his thumb stopping at the injury there was because of Lucci’s merciless biting on her lips and face, he put a finger below her chin and made her look at him,

“I can’t tell you how bad I feel for this! I let this happen right before of my eyes. I put you in position to make you shoot yourself to death. I had to go after him, I could not sit and wait. I felt bad for leaving you in the hospital like that, it was my responsibility to take care of you but I just took off hun! How horrible of a boyfriend I am! I asked Shanks to take care of you and went after him seeking, revenge, I was..” Zoro had to stop as she shook her head violently at his statement to make him stop talking.

There were signs of injuries and bruises on his body too, she was almost in tears all over again, Jane took his face in her hands, she whispered softly caressing his face,

“I am okay and I am so relieved that you are back, I couldn’t stop thinking about you guys, that’s the place from where I would never get any kind of feedback,I didn't know if you guys were okay, all I could do was to wait for you to come home! I was so worried Zoro!” 

That made him lean in and put his lips on hers, he kissed her so softly as not to hurt her lips and pulled out quickly before deepening it,

“You don’t need to treat me like I am a glass doll Zoro, I am strong enough to handle your kiss!” said Jane snorting a little, she put her palm on his heart and felt his heartbeat under her skin,

“I am not, I am just treating you like you are most valuable person for me!” said Zoro connecting their hands together,

“I am?”

“I love you Jane!” said Zoro planting a quick kiss on her lips again, she smiled at him but a bruises and scratches on him were drawing her attention,

“Zoro. You are so much injured, did…..did you..” Jane was checking on his wounds when Zoro talked suddenly making her stop talking,

“No, I did not get to fight Lucci, conditions were different when we reached there and Luffy jumped in, challenging him to a duel, he is our leader and I respect him. I had to fight Kaku, he was real good swordsman you know!”

“Was?” asked Jane raising an eyebrow,

“Yeah, until I defeated him of course!”  Zoro’s smirk was all the proof she needed,

“You defeated him! Good!” said Jane praising Zoro,

“Why the tone of surprise!”

“Nothing! Zoro, you guys would be wanted criminals now? You know what that means?”

“Jane we would talk about later. First I need you to be back being yourself, you have to heal and go back being captain!”

“Zoro..”

“Je, no excuse!”

“Okay! You did amazing job bringing back Robin! It’s like a small boat challenging stormy ocean!!" 

"Well, we did out best for not to die, we just couldn't you know! And, I had a my beautiful bossy tomboy girlfriend waiting back home, i had to make it! So, don't worry about these minor injuries!" Jane blushed a little but shook her head and tried to get up from his lap, 

“Yeah!?? Let’s get you patched up!! Come!!”

“I am okay! Stay!!”

“Zoro, I feel so bad, Smoker told me to trust you but I never shared any details about Robin's case, if only I could share the details, we could have protected Robin and this all would not have happened at all.”

“Nope, he had to come back, he would have done whatever he had to, to get what he wanted, its just like he is! In the process, he could have destroyed many things, what you think, he would have thought twice before attacking this very building if we had Robin in here?”

Jane gripped his t-shirt and hid her face away.

“You know what, I thought about killing Lucci when Luffy was done with him but I could not.”

“Zoro….”

“He saved your life when I could not, that suicidal bullet from your gun and then poison!” He muttered like he was cussing, he cussed a little more avoiding to look at her face as his fingers played with the soft blond strands, his other arm tightened around her waist.

“Is that why you did not kill him?” asked Jane finally looking at him, he sighed and shook his head,

“No, I just could not kill!” said Zoro as he looked at her and made troubled face, Jane smiled slightly,

“I know, you would never do that. You are a very nice person and you won’t kill anybody if you don’t have to; then they be your enemy.”

“Well, at least Kaku had the audacity to apologize for lying to you and he gave me a letter to give it to you. When he admitted his defeat, he said he was not worth your friendship and asked me to take care of you for rest of my life. Sanji was broken to let him go, Kaku did want him to stay, he gave him some papers, Sanji broke into tears after looking at them, he took them and carried along with him on his way back, he was not okay when Kaku got defeated but he came back with us none the less!” said Zoro to change the topic,

“Zoro, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Jane whispered with furrowed brows.

“Okay! I understand!”

“C’mon, you wanna take bath! You will feel nice, come, after that I will look at those wounds.” Jane said getting up and pulling him up by hand.

“Bath sounds nice!” Zoro got up and they went into Jane’s extra luxurious bathroom.

“I love it in here!”

Jane went over and got water running, she checked the temperature with her hand in water stream,

“Yeah! You will feel good, I will get some clothes for you and would you like to have some scotch?” asked Jane turning on her heels, Zoro had taken off his t-shirt,

“You want to join me?” asked Zoro grabbing her waist, she smiled as she traced his scar with her hand again feeling his powerful torso and his muscles with her palms she looked at his chest with hazy eyes,

“I would love to but I just took a bath before you guys came in!” said Jane reluctantly pulling out from him, he took her hand in his and brought her close again,

“Jane, I lost the Yubashiri in the battle!” Zoro said showing he the hilt clung to his belt when he took rest of his swords out to put them aside,

“Oh!! May her spirit rest in new one that I have decided to gift you” said Jane looking down at his wounds on his divinely beautiful abdomen scarred with recent battle scars,

“No more gifts from you Je, I already owe you 9 million!”

“Zoro you owe me money, gift is gift, you gave me this remember? I haven’t yet returned!” said Jane pointing to her piercing in her ear, 

“You are not going to listen to me are you?”

“No!” said Jane stubbornly,

“Well! I brought you a souvenir!” said Zoro and gave her a golden chain Lucci always had around his neck and a token of friendship Jane had once gifted to Kaku that Kaku had returned for betraying her after Zoro defeated him,

“Kaku’s bracelet and Lucci locket! It’s finally over?” whispered Jane bitterly,

“It’s over and you are mine forever!” said Zoro yanking Jane to his bare chest as he captured her lips, she tasted like scotch and cinnamon, she moaned in kiss and melted in his arms like a butter near fire…..

\-----------------

 

Shanks, Jane and Zoro were to have a nice family steak dinner along with black wine as Jane had wanted, Zoro actually had got used to being with Shanks around as he had understood how much important he was for Jane, Zoro had seen how Shanks’ love superseded everybody’s in her case, Zoro felt the love Shanks harboured for Jane as a parent. Shanks recently had started taking care of both of them, he respected Zoro’s feelings for Jane and approved of Zoro as Jane’s boyfriend,   

Jane had got drunk by the time Shanks cooked and Zoro took bath, she already had been drinking long before they came home, Jane was not being her happy-self but she was not sad either, Zoro was helping Shanks setting the table and Jane was sitting on Kitchen counter being problem child as she was she never let Shanks relax for a minute,

“Sit at the table Jane!” said Shanks,

“Nooooo, I am eating in the living on my couch!” said Jane as she jumped down and started walking out, her steps were shaky and she was fumbling,

“Jane, you are wobbly you are going to fall walking like that you idiot, and we are eating here!” scolded Shanks narrowing his eyes on her, 

“You don’t gettcha’ decide ol’ man, this is ma place and this stupid bottl’ is empty!” said Jane putting an empty scotch bottle on ground,

“You have had enough for the day Je! Come, let us have some steak!” said Zoro but Jane had already ran out of room, he sighed and placed a plate on table and both made their way to Jane in living room, when they reached they saw her opening another scotch bottle and taking yet another one out,

“Shit! She is going to empty the whole stockpile like that!” Zoro said looking at Jane who was tip toeing to reach another one,

“Oh! No! Not that bottle! Zoro just distract her for a minute will ya?” said Shanks sounding a little uncomfortable,

“What?” asked Zoro confused,

“That is the one she bought for very special occasion and that is yet has to come! We need to stop her now anyways or she is going to cry her eyes out tomorrow”

“Hn? Oh!…yeah! Sure!” said Zoro awkwardly and made his way to Jane,

“Zoro, so you did come tailing me hun!” chirped Jane happily,

“You are slurring! You are drunk!” scolded Zoro as he looked at Jane who was carelessly gulping down large swig of her scotch,

A droplet seeped out of her lips, drawing a thin line that travelled down from her chin to her neck and vanished in her loose tank top suggesting it went directly to the valley of her breasts, Zoro’s eyes sparkled with hunger he had been feeling lately, the possessiveness he had developed after the Lucci incident.

Zoro swallowed thickly gawking at her, totally mesmerized, he felt the time stopped, so did everything, now it just was Jane he all could see, her blonde strands, her fair skin, her head tilted back, her back arched, her neck stretched out, a perfect invitation to attack……… all he could thought was to jump on her and kiss her senseless and lick that neck……...

And he did, hurried closer to his girlfriend, put his hand on small of her back, Jane shivered at the sudden possessive touch, she stopped drinking and looked at him. He took bottle a little away gulping the same before he stretched his arm to put it away, he yanked her close and placed his mouth on her lips.   

Zoro just had to…..it was so irresistible………..he had to trace with his tongue the scotch droplet from her chin to all the way to the elevation of her boobs and he licked her skin off the scotch. She closed her eyes the moment his tongue touched her neck, she threw her head back arching her back even more as took a sharp breath, he traced trail of scotch down to her chest to wipe clean the liquid of her skin to mark it with his saliva and Jane moaned as his lips touched the tender skin of her breast just a little,

Zoro suddenly halted his action hearing her sexy sound, realizing he just made Jane moan in presence of his so called father in law. Obviously, that thought got him embarrassed, he could not control himself even after accusing Jane being drunk while he acted like one and he felt embarrassed at his own action but when he pulled off from her, stood straight to face Shanks and take his scolding like a man but…. bam! He did not find Shanks there at all.

Zoro looked at Jane, her head still thrown back and back still arched, her eyes shut closed and lips still parted giving out the breaths looked like she was knocked off the breath, he saw around the room and decided to kiss Jane taking advantage of situation as he was going to get taunted or scolded anyway.

He lifted Jane off her feet, sat her on the bar counter and kissed Jane until he was satisfied; she responded with equal hunger and when they pulled out and she had totally forgotten about her scotch. She rested her head in crook of his neck,

“Hmm, it feels so good to be with you Zoro!” Jane said smiling slightly, her eyes were hazy and she tugged on Zoro’s pants and belt to pull him to herself, he kept his hands around her waist and smirked at her,

“I am happy that I came here right after we got back to the Grand line!” said Zoro in tone that suggested his satisfaction,

“Means?” Jane asked sounding childish and out of character, Zoro snorted at her voice and spoke,

“Luffy wanted me to stay and call you there for the party, they are celebrating the win!”

Jane dropped her shoulders and made a pout,

“Oh! You missed party because of me!” whispered Jane, Zoro narrowed his eyes on her for a moment and shook his head before he spoke,

“No idiot! It’s time to face them Je, you have been avoiding them for far too long now! They want to see you baby!” Jane nodded slightly,

“I know, I was just not ready but I am now. We will go and see them soon!” said Jane tightening her arms around him,

“That’s my girl!” said Zoro caressing her face,  

“Zoro, I need to talk to you. I wanted to say……….I want …I am actually……..um….I just want to say that I….Zoro I have been thinking all this time…I have been practicing it in the mirror…he he!…Umm…….I am …Zoro I am…..I want to say ….” Her voice was uneasy and different

He made some distance between them and Jane gave a whimper, Zoro arched an eyebrow but put a finger below her chin to make her look up to him,                                                               

“What is it? Just tell me whatever it is, why feel so awkward, what is with you?” asked Zoro confused, she shook her head readily and hugged him back,

“I want to tell you something important but I should do it tomorrow when I am sober!”

“Now you had to start it eh? I can’t wait till tomorrow, maybe I want to listen it now!”

“No, it’s better if I do it tomorrow!” said Jane and flumped on him,

“You sure you won’t forget it by morning?” asked Zoro suspiciously,

“I am sure I won’t. Because it was first thing on my mind when I opened my eyes after I was shot with that stupid dart but I was a little busy being paralyzed so could not do it!” Jane said chuckling a little,

“Okay okay! Don’t bring that up! Come, Shanks is been waiting long enough!”

“So, you guys are on first name basis now?” said Jane snorting,

“I must record you!”

“No, you must not!”

Zoro lifted her off her feet again and took her to the dinning, he saw Shanks standing at the glass wall, staring out somewhere far in city, Shanks tab was placed on table which started vibrating and it gave a beeping sound, he came and checked the notification and Zoro seated Jane on her seat at the start of table, Zoro’s being on one side of hers and Shanks’ being on other side,

Shanks smiled at her tired form and started serving the dinner on the perfectly set table,

“I will help” said Zoro and they worked together and Jane leaned in chair and slumped on it like a child,

“Hmmm…..Smells so good!” said Jane closing her eyes and smiling,

“Hope it tastes like it smells!” said Shanks smirking and sat down, they started eating, Zoro praised Shanks for food, Jane did not move or even attempted to do anything just sat there staring at Zoro, he avoided looking at her as that would make him blush instantly,

“Eat your food Je, it tastes awesome!” said Zoro awkwardly, but Jane was dead set on gawking at him, she did not as much as blink her eyes,

Finally Shanks moved his chair a bit, cut the piece of steak in her plate with his knife and offered her a piece, she did not take her eyes off Zoro but ate what Shanks gave her anyway, she chewed and hummed at the satisfaction of very familiar and her favorite food’s taste in her mouth, Shanks smirked. That was little awkward for Zoro but Shanks got to enjoy the dinner more than he had expected, shanks offered her the old PSP she had so that she would stop making Zoro uncomfortable and get engrossed in games as Shanks kept spoon feeding her from her plate.

Shanks and Zoro enjoyed their little talks about Jane, the fight they had at Ennies lobby and many others topics but Jane never participated any of the conversation, she had her eyes fixed on her PSP screen, Jane did not lift so much as a finger to finish her meal and Shanks was more than happy to help and he was happy that she approved of what he had cooked to makeup her mood.

After dinner Shanks started cleaning and Zoro helped him with dishes, after all was done they noticed Jane was fast asleep with her head on table, seating in her like that her hand still had PSP, her face relaxed and her eyes calm and breathing even.

Shanks smiled at her as he walked over her, he gave her kiss on head, Zoro scratched back of his head awkwardly avoiding to look at Shanks and Jane,

“Sleeps like a baby!” said Shanks planting another kiss on her head,

“I think I should get going! Thanks for the amazing dinner and sorry for, um… you know…… that living room incident, I was…….. out of line!” said Zoro awkwardly as she gave a curt and quick bow to Shanks, 

“No need to be sorry!”

“No that was not proper behavior; I will take care from now on. Good night Sir!” Zoro said quickly and seemed ready to walk away,

“First, how many times do I have to tell you, it’s Shanks when we are having a family time and second, as you are back, you better start taking care of your girlfriend. Now pick her up and go to your room. Good night kid, I will see you two tomorrow!” said Shanks walked away from her without looking back at Zoro,

“Thank you, Shanks!” said Zoro in low voice as Shanks walked away, Shanks nodded and disappeared from his sight,

Zoro walked over to Jane, he bent down sneaking an arm below her knees and made her head rest on his shoulder, he picked her up gently and walked towards the very bedroom Jane was found in when he came in her place, but being Zoro that took longer than Shanks had expected, he made it there finally after taking two wrong turns on the way.

Zoro put her on the lovely big comfy plush bed, tucked in covers. He went over to other side, took off his shirt and stretched his body a little before climbing on. He climbed up and crawled into the warm blankets and took Jane in his arms. After some time she changed position a little and put her arms around his waist and adjusted herself in his embrace to take in his warmth. He kept observing her sleeping form clung to his chest till he fell asleep……

 


	20. I love you too!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Lemon!  
> Zoro X Jane!

**I LOVE YOU ZORO!**

 

Jane woke up with a heavy head and an aching bladder, she blinked rapidly to make them go away but sadly enough, it had to be taken care of.

She growled cussing her stomach and got up from her bed, she noticed the bathroom door was already open and she could here water running, it was early-morning, atmosphere seemed chilly and fresh. She looked around for her lover, found him in shower and she hurried to the toilet.

\------

She gave a long sigh and yawned herself to tears.

“Did I wake my darling Robocop! How you feel?” Zoro chuckled,

“That again! I thought you were done using that nickname!”

“Headache?”

“Hell of a headache, I need some warm water bath. I see, you have done with it already!”

Jane chewed her bottom lip and winked at Zoro, making him smirk,

“Yeah I did! You looked so calm and at peace, so did not want wake you up.”

Jane was brushing her teeth as she stared at him, more like at his perfectly toned muscular-bound chest and strong back, his abs, his moist honey color skin reflecting off the morning light, he looked handsome and attractive.

“You are staring!”

“Hmm, can’t I stare at my own boyfriend? Geez!!” teased Jane continuing cleaning her mouth, avoiding looking at his face, Zoro went over to bath tub and started water running to fill to with warm water for Jane to soak in,

He smiled little longer thinking about her _dialogues_ , when he looked back at her she now was staring at her own face in the mirror at the wash basin as if inspecting something, he walked over to her, sneaked an arm around her waist, he slipped his other hand under the tank top and leaned on her back as he brought his lips to her earlobe, he nibbled on the soft mass and Jane hummed and closed her eyes.

“You look sexy in towel!” praised Jane,

“You look sexier in towel, I could only imagine what you look like without one!”

“Is my brother teaching you how to seduce girls?? And by the way, you only said your imagination sucks!” chided Jane, Zoro chuckled at her statement,

“So, were you imagining me naked when you were staring at me a minute ago?”

“Oh! You can only guess!” Jane smirked at him as she gave him hazy eyes and seductive look,

“Yesterday!! You wouldn’t stop staring, I could not eat and Shanks would not stop giving us amusing glances! It was so fucking embarrassing and he was so enjoying himself! First, I embarrass myself kissing you in front of him and then you do that to me! He is not gonna let that go for ages you know!” Zoro snorted, recalling the dinner they had last night,

“Yeah? I don’t remember doing anything like that!”

“What? Seriously!” exclaimed Zoro surprised,

“Umn-hun!” nodded Jane, Zoro turned her around to make her face him,

“What you last remember doing?”

“Looking at my scrapbook and drinking scotch!” deadpanned Jane, Zoro narrowed his eyes on her,

“What? No, you! You said you would not forget that thing, it was important Jane!”

“What was important? What did I do? Did I do anything to you?” Jane had too innocent face to believe.

“You, you don’t remember a thing? Really?” asked Zoro disappointed, Jane cocked her head to right side,

“Tell me what did I do?”

“You did not do anything, it’s…it’s just that you were saying something which  appeared to be important and then you suddenly stopped talking and said you wanted to do it sober so ..”

“Did I say that?”

“Hmm”

“Oh!” said Jane massaging her temple,

“Don’t ‘Oh!’ me! You said you would remember it!”

Jane gave him a pout and dropped her shoulders,

“I guess you have to get rid of the headache first! C’mon, lets get you warm, you need a bath!” said Zoro sounding a little sad and he picked her up and walked to the bath tub, he kissed her on lips quickly and pulled out deepening kiss as his phone started ringing,

“That must be Wiper!”

“He is doing great in our absence, he is a good leader!”

“Yeah he is! I better go and get it!” said Zoro and Jane nodded agreeing.

\---------------------------------

Zoro sat at the desk in Jane’s bedroom, working on Jane’s laptop, talking with Wiper on phone, catching up with the new info Wiper had to share and report on the work that was done, taking updates for nearly half hour before Jane made it back.

Jane saw Zoro typing something on the laptop and talking with wiper as his earpiece was blinking with red light on it. He looked at her and mouthed ‘wiper’, she nodded and mouthed ‘continue’ to him. She walked to bed and sat on it with her back rested on headboard, her weight made her body sunk in the soft plush bed, her white soft bath coat sprawled over the rich silk bed sheet as she slumped on the big feather filled white pillow and kept observing Zoro. He still was in his shorts, his t-shirt messily hung over his shoulder, his bare torso now dry off all the water droplets.

After ten more minutes the call ended and Zoro took out the earpiece and shut the laptop off. He thought of walking over to Jane and make her remember last night but the wall mounted phone in her room ranged and Zoro sighed in frustration as he stretched his arm out to press the button to turn on the speaker none the less,

“Jane, you up baby?” was Shanks’ voice,

“Yeah! Morning Dad!” said Jane, Zoro put his elbow on desk and rested his face on back of his hand looking at Jane’s face, still sitting in his chair,

“You sound like you have been up for a while!”

“Yeah! You leaving already?” asked Jane looking at wall clock,

“Oh yes, I am; I have some matter to discuss with Yassap and Roo. This is you last day of the mandatory rest so rest good, get Kaya to give us a nice check-up. Jane! No alcohol today, you had enough yesterday and you will do better to remember it! Your breakfast is ready in the kitchen. Heard your boyfriend makes decent coffee so I left early without making one for you, now have a fresh black coffee that will help your headache, tell Zoro he is taking this day off.”

Jane was smiling happily by the time Shanks finished, she gave a long audible breath,

“Wow, you sound like you are smiling! Lovely!! Nothing is more beautiful than your smiling face and blue eyes!” added Shanks,

“Marry me!” Jane exclaimed, Zoro raised an eyebrow at her, she winked at him playfully,

“Darling! We have been married for 12 years, and I gotta go now!” came Shanks’ casual voice, making Zoro shake his head,

“Yeah I know! Bye now!”

“Take care baby, love you!” continued Shanks,

“Yeah! yeah! Love you too you cheesy old geezer! Get lost already!” yelled Jane smirking and Shanks hanged up after chuckling at her statement.

“You guys are a weird! Seriously!”

“I told you he always is what I need him to be! Both of us, we never had any real family, just had each other, so I don’t know if I can go on without him, like we were meant to find each other!”

“Too good to be real!” said Zoro getting up and walking towards bed,

“Yeah? You still are jealous of him, aren’t you?” mocked Jane smirking at Zoro, he threw the t-shirt on bed and climbed up to tower above her form,

“I guess I am, but it’s not like that anymore, I am jealous that he understands you so well, better than me and jealous of your connection to him, and yes, I do envy that!” Zoro said sincerely,

“Huh! Shanks says the same! He is envious of you! What a conundrum!”

Zoro gave her a confused look and Jane laughed, soon he too started laughing….

\---------

“Sucks eh? So, what you want to do today? I have a day off, you are already in my arms and I have you all to myself!” said Zoro leaning on her and giving her a quick peck on lips.

She pushed him back, she gave some resistance against his kiss as he tried to push her back to the bed, in the process her bathrobe came lose revealing her left thigh and some part of her hip, his hand travelled to the her hip to caress her exposed skin, she hummed and her hand pushing him back was withdrawn as she started sitting up using her both hands pushing against bed itself. 

He reluctantly broke the kiss for air thereby leaving both lovers panting, she bent her neck down to rest on his chest.

“What is it? What happened?” asked Zoro as he did not get usual response from her,

She waited, caught her breath, that made him a little worried,

She took a long breath in before sighing as she pulled back from him,

She looked up and made a comfortable distance between them by skidding a little back as she sat up straight, she took his hand in her own as she cleared her throat,   

“I wanted to tell you something!” said Jane suddenly sounding sincere and firm,

“Look Jane if it is anything related to Lucci or the battles we had with the CP9 and that O’hara case, I don’t want us to discuss it. Because as I told you yesterday, that chapter has been closed and it’s finished for me!”

“No, not that! It’s what I wanted to tell you yesterday, I wanted to do it sober, I need to tell you something!” said Jane looking into his eyes,

“So, you remember now?” asked Zoro skeptically,

“Who said I forgot anything? I was just kidding!” deadpanned Jane,

Zoro sighed and dropped his shoulders,

“So, you were just teasing!!” said Zoro with frown,

“Yeah!” nodded Jane nonchalantly,

“What am gonna do without you?” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on her, she shrugged giving him innocent funny face,

“You would not do anything without me! You are a boring person alone!”

“Wow! Thanks for complement!! Okay! Go on then, let’s hear it now! I have been waiting since forever!” said Zoro impatiently,

Jane looked away and cleared her throat before speaking,

“You…you said that I did not think about you when I decided to shoot myself, it was suicidal and you said that I did not hesitated to shoot, you said..” Zoro suddenly stopped her,

“Babe, don’t!!” Zoro did not let her complete but she scolded him,

“Zoro Shhhh, let me finish please!” said Jane closing her eyes,

“Okay!”

“The truth is, I was getting affected by what he said, he sounded so true……..” Jane stopped for a second but Zoro’s heart sank low into his stomach the moment Jane said she wanted to believe what Lucci said but he recovered quickly as he started thinking,

‘What you mean you wanted to believe him? Did you want to go back to him? No, that’s not it, isn’t it, you wanted to forget him you said!! You are right by the way, he sounded true!’ thought Zoro as his brain was processing what Jane was saying and what she meant,

“Zoro, I wanted to believe him because I wanted to forgive him and get it over with……………, I just wanted him gone….and…all this thoughts……these things…...they hunt me.....Zoro…I want them to go away from my mind…...just….…go away for good….. Cussing him and keep blaming him for what happened has done lot of damage to me, if he would have cooperated I could have forgiven him and forgotten him over period of time and would be done with him once and for all.  But instead he forced himself on me and that was the last straw, I am never going to forgive him, never in my whole life.” Said Jane with closed eyes, she stopped talking and took a shaky breath…

“Jane, I told you that chapter is already finished! You are with me now, you don’t need to forgive him or forget him, just be with me and let me take care of everything else, I will make it go away!” Said Zoro in low and deep voice, squeezing her hand firmly for assurance, Jane opened her eyes and shifted closer to him,

“Zoro, the profession we are in, we risk our lives daily, I have been trained to risk my life like it means nothing when it comes to that, I have been behind enemy lines, I have infiltrated enemy ranks, I did it all what it takes to win the mission even when I had to risk my life for some hopeless reason in some hopeless situations. But….”

“But..?” asked Zoro worried what exactly Jane was getting at,

“That day…. when I thought of doing it once more….. it was simple this time actually, I was not in difficult situation or surrounded by people who wanted to kill me or something, just had to pull out a gun and take a shot, point blank, shoot my brains, so simple.” Jane said impassively avoiding meeting his gaze,

“Jane?” scolded Zoro and his hand travelled to her face, he kept his hand on her face near her neck and cupping her face from one side in the process,

“I thought of killing myself for I could not kill him, but I….I didn’t know when my hand grabbed the gun, I did not know when gun touched my skin and my finger pulled the trigger, like my brain was split in two, I felt like my body won’t listen to me, won’t listen my heart. Part of me wanted to die the moment he touched me and part of me was cowering for …...” Jane said, her hand unknowingly travelled to his face, her expressions were soft and her eyes were glassy as she continued,

‘What are you getting at Je, I have got a weird feeling about this, please just don’t tell me to go away, I can’t leave you, I can’t live without you! What you want to say babe?’ thought Zoro, his scowl deepened, his heartbeat elevated,

“Jane…” whispered Zoro mindlessly touching her hand resting on his face, Jane continued further as she kept looking at him intently, her blue orbs trying find bottom of his deep green ones..

“It was like time stopped though I knew time was actually running out for me and I was so helpless, he was biting off my lip but I did not feel anything, not even the pain but…….. I cried….I cried helplessly……and I did cry… because I felt alone Zoro, I cried because I thought I was going to die without so much as a last glance at you…………….”

Zoro’s heartbeat quickened, he felt hairs on his neck standing up, he loved the way she said that,

“I wanted to see your face one more time, just one last time before I lose myself to death, just one more time I wanted to hear your voice Zoro. A part of me was cowering because I would never get to see you anymore! Then it occurred to me that I did not even tell you that I ……….,”

She stopped and swallowed thickly before talking further, Zoro’s eyes were wide now, in anxiety he had bend forward a little, leaned into the touch of her hand on his face, ….

“Zoro!! I just wanted to tell you how much I love you……. before I die!” said Jane quickly with eyes glittering with watery edges, salty water threatening to come out of her beautiful blue eyes,

‘Holy shit! She said it, she loves me! The Fuck? She really said that or my eardrums are ringing? What the fuck is happening? Am I dreaming? She was thinking about me before that thing? Fuck! This stupid noise! Stop! I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, it’s going to explode, I want to hear her say that again, tell me that again baby. Shit! What do I do? I never thought I would hear her say that, I thought what we have now or what we just had a minute ago was the best I am ever gonna get. Holy fucking shit! I am going to die of happiness!’ thought Zoro,

“Je…” words died down Zoro’s dry throat, Zoro was speechless, he did not know what to say, how to react, he was so shocked and so happy that he could not speak,

“Baby, so the point is, I was thinking about you when I pulled that trigger. I love you Zoro!” Jane said again and Zoro closed eyes, he felt Jane putting her arms around his neck as she hugged him climbing on his lap, he did not even hug her back.

They remained like that for a minute or two, there was still no reaction from Zoro, she thought for a moment and pulled back, Zoro’s blank face and deep green heartwarming eyes were shut closed,

Jane shook him taking his shoulders in her hands, he barely moved but snapped out of it as he opened his eyes and looked at Jane, he grabbed her hand quickly and put it on his chest so that her palm would rest over his heart, it was beating fast like crazy which made her raise an eyebrow,

“Fuck! Zoro! What the ..” exclaimed Jane but Jane was cut off,

“Jane, please say that again!!” whispered Zoro,

“Fuck! Zoro what the..” Jane repeated nonchalantly,

“Not that you idiot! You don’t know how happy I am! Oh! Fuck!”

Zoro dropped his shoulders, closed his eyes again and let go of his firm frame, he carelessly threw himself on her as he flumped on Jane pushing her back to bed. She smiled and supported his bigger frame wrapping her hands around him as she hugged him and held him close when they got dropped on bed, the sweet slight smile dancing on her lips never disappeared, she let him rest and take his time digesting what she had said to him,

“I never thought you would actually say that to me!” whispered Zoro after few minutes of silence, his eyes were closed and his face had a slight smile of satisfaction,

“Why? Am I really that cold? I think I should have said it sooner! That regret might have turned me into a ghost, made my soul roam around after my death, you know!” chided Jane still smiling. Zoro hid his face in the crook of her neck and put his arms around her waist as he tightened his arms around her,

“I love you Jane!”

“I love you too Zoro. And now, I can die and go to heaven!” said Jane as she snorted a little,

“You ain’t going nowhere in no heaven without me, you pain in ass girl!” scolded Zoro,

“Yeah? I haven’t even touched your ass yet!” mocked Jane finger combing his hair, he hummed and rubbed his cheek on her neck, she liked his reaction so she did some more earning a purr from him as her fingers run through his hair, slightly scratching and rubbing finger tips on his scalp, he leaned into her touch,

“I see, you like it!” whispered Jane,

“It feels awesome!” whispered Zoro,

Jane’s other hand was on his chest which now moved to his back, she caressed his muscles and brought it down to his waist, she could feel his muscles flex under her fingertips, his grip on her bath coat tightened as her fingers brushed his waist line, Jane quickly slid her finger inside his shorts, he cracked open his eyes as he drew in a sharp breath and pulled out from her neck.

Suddenly Jane gripped his shoulders and flipped him over the bed to make him lay on his back and sat on his waist, her bathrobe was loose and was coming apart. She sat with her legs on both sides of his waist, her light colored skin was visible all the way from left side, her waist, her hip, her thigh; Zoro could not help but stare at her exposed skin, she put her hands on both sides of his head and leaned in to put her lips on his, he slid his hands under her bathrobe to caress her waist and hips as he reciprocated her kiss with equal passion to match hers.

He growled as her fingers curled in his short crop hair, she tugged softly on his hair and she crushed her chest on his, smashing her soft boobs covered in bath coat on his chest muscles, drawing out a throaty moan from him.

Zoro was no doubt a very beautiful being; his body was more than perfect, sheer masculine perfection, honey colored soft skin pulled over tight rock solid muscles, chiseled to a godlike perfection. Not a fraction of an extra ounce of flesh but block after block of perfectly worked upon muscles, divinely strong arms, delicious narrow waist, broad proud chest, flat firm stomach, so hard and hot; yet caring and loving in nature.

“Oh!! You don’t know how perfect you are Zoro!” said Jane between kiss, he could not react to her words in time as she captured his lips again.

Zoro was not experienced in anything other than kissing and giving head, those two being the only things he had ever done to express his attraction to Sanji, but Sanji never touched him, never said anything nice, Sanji never treated him like he mattered. Zoro never really felt loved like this before, girls and boys used to hit on him due to his hot body but they just wanted to get into his pants for night, whereas he always wanted a relationship, one who understands him in and out, knows him for what he is and respects him like he is.  

Zoro never felt this kind of attraction towards anybody other than Sanji and now Jane, he was as good as inexperienced and he was virgin on top of that. He was so painfully hard due love Jane was showering on him, her actions had aroused him to no end, he did not know what to do and how to react as she was making him hard and wet.

“Je…” moaned Zoro when her wet clit rubbed against his hard member over fabric of the briefs, his hand left her waist and went to his hard shaft as he could not take it anymore. Jane gripped his hand to push it away as she pulled out from his lips, she looked at him amused, Zoro’s face was flushed red,

“Damn it Je!” moaned Zoro in tight voice as she gripped his hard member with her own hand above fabric of his shorts,

“What happened big boy? Wow, you are so wet and so hard! We can fix that!” said Jane seductively and she rubbed her palm on the hardness between his legs, Zoro bucked his hips as just could not control it and he growled turning his head to look away from Jane’s mischievous face,    

Zoro felt her slim fingers sliding under the hem of his underwear, she quickly tugged on it and slid it down, his massive cock sprang out before he could protest, he saw her eyes widen as she took in the look of his thick long member, already rock hard and pulsating, a bead of pre-cum formed on the cockhead as pre ejaculate leaked from the slit. Zoro hissed and shivered when he felt slender pale fingers wrapping around his hot throbbing shaft, she gripped it a little firmer and gave an experimental stroke making Zoro grunt loudly; she smirked at the reaction she got from her lover and stroked again his legs went tight, his fist clenched and his eyes closed, she started stroking it more making Zoro growl harder,

He closed his eyes and gripped the headboard with his hands and forced closed his eyes as he gave his all not to cum just by the stroking Jane was doing, he felt something warm and soft on his cock head, his eyes cracked opened and he looked down to find Jane’s lips were around his cockhead,

“Je…Jane, d..don’t….you don’t have to…ummgrhhh……. Fuck!” yelled Zoro in pleasure as Jane give a suck on his tip, she tilted her face to look at his flushed red face, his hazy half lidded eyes, she smirked and put her fingers around his cock forming a ring at the base but it was so thick that her fingers did not meet.

“You are tasty Zoro! How come you taste like this when you have high amount alcohol intake as I do!” said Jane,

“Wh…What?” exclaimed Zoro confused and he felt her words totally out of context and his brain was not in position to think at all,

“What can we do!! Let see….!!

Jane looked at him he was looking right back at him, she narrowed her eyes giving him a cocky grin as she made him see when she licked his dick from base to all the way up tip seductively, he shuddered as Jane continued using tongue on his shaft,

“Jane …you ……you don’t have to do that!” said Zoro in tight voice, he saw her crawling off him, he took a long breath and relaxed his groin a little.

“What are you doing now?” asked Zoro,

She went to other side of bed, she looked for something into a drawer,

“Just a sec Zoro! You are a big boy but you don’t look like you would hold it up for long and I want you to enjoy it! You need a little help and this would do just fine!”

“What???”

“Trust me??”

“Of course I do!!”

She came the way she was gone and sat on him again, he used his elbows to raise his head to take a look at Jane, the next thing Zoro saw was a small rubber band being put around his cock that tightened around his base, he blinked at her and spoke panicking,

“Jane. What the …” protested Zoro, he tried to get up and move his hands but Jane pushed him back to the bed,

She wrapped her fingers around his throbbing member and started stoking sending Zoro into the world of pleasure again. He threw his head back and gritted his teeth as stroking grew wilder. After some strokes he felt his shaft being licked, he dropped his head down to hit on pillow hard as he felt her playing with his virgin cock teasing him to make his mind go wild, after few licks and stokes he felt his member was being enveloped in hot tightness,

“Holy shit!” moaned Zoro, watching Jane taking him in her mouth,

“Jane! Don’t!” yelled Zoro, the head of his sensitive virgin dick hit the back of her throat as she tried to take all of him in, he hold himself back and tried to pull away from her mouth but she was forcing her throat on him, it was impossible to swallow him a whole given the size of his member but she tried it anyway.

“Don’t what?” said Jane in muffled voice with him in her mouth and the words spoken around his sensitive flesh sent currents of vibrations going down his shaft, he curled his toes in pleasure and blinked violently to contain his consciousness, this sudden attack of love was overwhelming him beyond sanity,

“Fuck! You are going to drive me nuts Je!” moaned Zoro loudly, 

“Don’t like it?” said Jane electrifying his cock again,

“Shit! Babe, don’t talk with me in your mouth or I am gonna fucking cum in there!” yelled Zoro shutting close his eyes, she smiled and her blonde head started blobbing up and down his thick cock, sucking him off, stroking Zoro into oblivion, taking away his virginity,

His cusses and yells were all the much the proof of his being the first time getting a head, she was sucking him off the pre cum, after some more deep throating her fingers worked on rubber band as she brought it up with her fingers, her lips still around his member, she pulled off and took of the rubber band quickly taking him in her mouth again and scraped her teeth slightly on his skin and she swirled her tongue around it and took her cheeks in producing the suction.

“Fuck! Goddamn it! Aaaaah!.......... Baby, you….. are so…… good!” yelled Zoro between pants…

“You can come now! Ain’t leaving you till you do!” Jane said with Zoro still in her mouth…... he was aching for release, he loved the pleasurable pain he felt in his groin, he had never felt that before,

“No Jane! I cant, please!! I don’t want to…”

“Come Zoro, you can!!”

“I don’t want to do that to you!!”

“Come babe! Come for me! Its not bad!! Trust me!!” Jane said and sucked him some more,

“Shit!” said Zoro as he had been compelled to release his liquid into her warm mouth as she cupped his balls in her hands and gently squeezed them.

“Fuck! Wanna kill me JE???” yelled Zoro as he could not control anymore but come hard in her mouth, she hold her mouth on his member to take all he had to offer and swallowed every last drop of it.

He was panting hard and drawing in heavy breaths, his shaft went limp and soft, Jane released him off her mouth. She crawled up and slumped herself near him, his chest was still heaving, his powerful orgasm had him worn out, 

“That….. was the most amazing……. thing ……I have ever experienced!” whispered Zoro between the heavy breaths he was panting to stabilize his breathing, he had half lidded eyes,

Jane threw a leg around his waist and an arm around his chest as she snuggled closer to him.

“You will say that again soon!” said Jane winking at him,

“I would love to!”

“Your first time?” asked Jane in teasing voice, Zoro smirked at her mischievousness,

“Hmm! I have never been at receiving end! You know what, it’s like million times better than what I thought it would feel like” said Zoro again,

“Wait! You imagined it too?” asked Jane smirking,

“Hey! Every guy dreams of getting a head okay, though I had never imagined a girl doing that to me! ” Zoro said shrugging, Jane made an ‘offended’ face,

“Yeah? Why?” asked Jane raising an eyebrow,

“Hey! Do I really need to tell you that! You know I wasn’t into girls before!”

“So, that makes me what? A Not-girl!!”

“Don’t get mad! I used to fantasize about getting a head while jerking off, who doesn’t? I had given it many times but never received one. At that time I thought I was homosexual so never really imagined a girl sucking me off, that’s it!” Zoro said shyly as he put his hand on his forehead and covered his eyes a little,

“Um….so…how did I do?” asked Jane awkwardly, he took his hand off his eyes and turned his head to look at her face, he cupped her face turning on his side and brought her close,

“You kidding me? You were amazing baby! I don’t know what to say! It felt like I was in heaven and trust me when I say that it does not even start describing how good it felt.”

“Yeah? So, Mr. Virgin, what else you have fantasized?” asked Jane raising her eyebrow, pinching him playfully,   

“Hey! You just took my virginity!” said Zoro, grabbing her hand in his,

“No! Not yet! I haven’t!” was her mischievous reply.

Zoro smirked and got rid of his half way down shorts, threw them off and yanked Jane closer to his chest to claimed her lips, he pushed his tongue in her mouth taking taste of his own cum in her mouth, she tasted salty and weird but sweet. He pushed her back into the bed as he came on top of her, his hand travelled to the knot on her bathrobe that held in place the soft cloth covering freshly bathed body.  

He laced his fingers of his left hand into hers and opened the knot on her bathrobe, the fabric came lose and started falling off, reveling her lean milky white body, she tried to cover herself up with her free hand working on bathrobe while overcoming his resistance,

“You promised, no more hiding your scars!” scolded Zoro as he pulled out,

“Zoro, you are beautiful okay, but I am ugly, I told you, I look better with clothes!” said Jane feeling embarrassed,

“Jane, what is it going to take for you to truly trust me, truly open up to me hun?”

“I tell you everything, I share everything with you now, I did open up to you! You have brought down all my walls I have been building up for years! It’s not the same with this!” replied Jane worriedly,

“It is the same and baby you are hiding yourself from me thinking that it would change my opinion about you, please let me see you! It’s not totally new to me, I have seen more than half of them, I am not going to judge you. Don’t you trust me with this?” demanded Zoro,

“I do but…” whispered Jane worried,

“No ‘buts’! Just let me in, I want you to be mine, nothing should come between us, ever.” Zoro said brushing her hair away from her face and tucking them behind her ear, she thought for a moment and looked down before closing her eyes,

Jane reluctantly let go of her bathrobe, he could see the skin of her neck, her sternum, skin between her breasts, her flat stomach and her muscles, stained with scars. His hand caressed her cheek, moved to her jaw line brushing his finger tips on her jaw line he moved to chin then to neck, his finger gently caressed and traced her collar bone, then moved down to her sternum, his finger pressed in gently in her smooth skin, his finger travelled down to area between the delicious elevations of her breast.

He noticed there was trace of slight pinkish trail on her soft white skin which disappeared within seconds, wherever he would touch her and press in a little, her skin tinged pink for a moment before he pulled out his finger from her skin, he made it travel all the way to her belly button. He looked at her face, she was chewing on her bottom lip, he waited for a second to look at her worried face, her closed eyes and then gently pulled on hem of her bathrobe, Jane cringed a little but did not resist his actions as she let bathrobe fell off her body revealing herself stark naked in his arms.

It’s not that Jane was not beautiful, she had best athletic built a woman could have hoped for, her height was more than most of women had, her body was strong and well built, she had well defined muscles on her arms and thighs, had flat belly, long beautiful neck, mouthwatering curve of collar bone could make a guy jump on her and kiss her senseless, modest perfect round boobs with cute pink nipples which could make a guy want to suck them till end of the earth, her narrow perfect waist, curve of her hips, her slender long thighs giving feel of even longer legs adding beauty to her figure.

The only problem was scars, all over her sides, thighs and waist, many of them present on stomach and on her arms, one could not overlook them. Zoro leaned in her body for touch of her skin against his, he kissed her neck gently, moved to her collar bone, to her sternum, the skin between her boobs, her stomach and went down to her waist leaving kisses and trails of saliva as he went, she shivered at his touch and he felt her reacting, responding and adjusting with her recent vulnerability to Zoro’s gaze. 

Where there were no scars, her skin was so soft and creamy white with no imperfections, very clean and velvety, he pulled out from her waistline, he went up and kissed her forehead. He gently made her turn over to make her lay on her stomach to look at her back side; her back was literally filled with scars, he could not bring himself to count them, it was like measuring her suffering in the terms of just the number of scars she had received, it was not about how many were there as Lucci had thought, it was how she got them there.

Zoro cussed the man mentally as his hand caressed her back protectively, he noticed some scars ran down to her ass and some were on back side of thighs, but her lean muscular back was totally filled with them. He noticed her perfectly round buttocks and kept himself from grabbing them for now. He made her turn on her back again, her eyes were still closed and her brows were still furrowed, he cupped her face, caressed her cheek with his thumb,

“Jane! Some stupid scratches are not going to make you look ugly!” said Zoro calmly and sincerely, salty warm water seeped out of her closed eyes, beads of water glittered as the droplets run down her cheeks,

“I know I look horrible, people throw up when they look at my back, you don’t need an expert to tell that I am ugly! Don’t try to tell me otherwise!” whispered Jane holding back a sob, he gently wiped of tear drop from her face with his thumb,

“No Jane, I have to disagree with you, you are wrong this time! You are beautiful! Creamy white skin soft as silk; golden hair, vibrant blue eyes, pink lips, long legs you are a girl yet not different from us boys, I love the way you are. Soft, caring, loving where you have to be and strong cool smart where you should be, you are both at same time, how many of them are like you? You are better than all other girls I know! Seriously! You don’t need to feel that way with me! Look at me baby, open your eyes, just look at me and tell me that I am lying or I don’t love you for what you are!” demanded Zoro,

She opened her eyes, she looked at him warily. He cupped her cheek with his hand and spoke softly,

“I love you Jane and these scars are not going to change that!” said Zoro looking into her eyes, his deep green orbs held love and care for her, not pity …

She quickly put an arm around his neck, brought it at back of his head and tugged on his hair fisting them in her hand,

“You are not allowed to leave me okay! Never ever! Whatever you are, wherever this is, whatever we have, a dream may be, I don’t know, you are absolutely forbidden to leave me, you won’t disappear on me ever, okay!!!” demanded Jane in tight voice and soft glassy eyes,

“You can have me on leash!” said Zoro leaning in, before he captured her lips in a sensual kiss, his hands found her face, fingers moved in her hair, to roots of her hair in back of her head and massaged her skin behind her ear as the kiss deepened while his thumbs gently made soothing movements on her cheek, she melted in kiss grabbing him to come closer, she parted lips after he started pushing his tongue in her mouth, he started caressing her back as his hand moved on her back, he felt her skin tingle under his fingertips.

“I told you Je, you are the one for me, so don’t worry about me leaving you, just worry about how we are going to spend rest of our future together!” whispered Zoro in kiss,

“I can have you on leash?” asked Jane now sneaking other hand around his neck as he brought her even closer,

“Absolutely!” said Zoro pulling out from her lips, he kissed her jaw line, he left butterfly kisses as he went to her neck downwards,

“Wounds heal and Scars fade, I am going to make even those memories go away, I promise!” said Zoro against her skin, she closed her eyes and a water drop again made its way out from corner of her eye which travelled quickly to her cheek and disappeared in her hair.

“I want you to stop thinking about what happened and start planning for future, future with me!” said Zoro with his  mouth on her collar bone, he started sucking and licking her skin, making her moan, his hands covered her body, wandered around her flesh, caressing and groping the delicious curves of her ass.

Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the lovely delight of his touch, she felt his mouth travelling downwards to her chest, his hand travelled up to her waist, to her stomach then on her boob, yes on her boob, she scooted away from him shyly her chest shrank backwards as her shoulders rose up creating a curve in her back and taking her chest in, but he leaned into her soft mass burying her deeper in the plush bed, his weight on hers making hers skin heated. He gripped firmly the soft pale mass of her breast and gently squeezed it, his thumb finding her hard pink nipple to tease while he took second boob in his mouth, he instinctively used his tongue to tease her hard nipple. That made her arch back, leaning into his touch as she moaned his name fisting hair at back of his head and digging fingers in his back as she gave out a held breath.    

His hand left her boob and traced the stretched curve of her arched back, his hand stopped at small of her back as his mouth travelled down from her chest to her stomach, kissing and sucking he made his way to her belly button, he teased the sensitive skin and coaxed her to part her legs, his other hand now caressed her inner thigh, drawing moans from her. He noticed himself getting hard between the legs again, he pulled out from her treasure line and his hand left her back as he pushed her to bed. He traced her hip bone and her waist with his hand, his hands moved to massage her thighs ignoring her scars as if they were nonexistent, he seductively traced the skin of her waist with his palms and his hand moved to all the way to her ankles caressing her long legs, he kissed her skin all over her thighs as he brought her parted legs over his shoulders.

He started kissing her legs, he went up to her inner thighs leaving intense kiss reddish pink marks and trail of saliva, he closed his eyes as he enjoyed feel of her skin in his mouth, he kept kissing as he went up her thigh, near her womanhood, his tongue noticed some weird marks on her upper inner thigh, when he reached up the area between her thighs, he gently put his finger on her pink folds and rubbed experimentally and she shuddered suddenly and crawled away from his touch. He moved quickly and held her in place, closer to his mouth grabbing her thigh with his left arm, he bent down further to take a closer look, his mouth watered looking at her pinkish shy glistering wet clit, he used his fingers to spread her folds to take better look and Jane grunted gripping the bedsheets.

“Wh…what are you doing??” Jane asked trying to pull away from him, tugging on her weakened legs,

“I want to see of course! And I also want to know what happens when I do this??” asked Zoro and quickly licked her pussy earning a sexy moan from her,

“Z..zoro!” screamed Jane,

“Hmmmm! You do taste better than me!” he said quickly as he licked it again,

“That can’t be!” exclaimed Jane breathlessly,

“Yeah?” exclaimed Zoro and started lapping her wet pussy,

“Ooooh!” moaned Jane,

He sucked on her folds and her moans changed into grunts and cusses, he smirked against her skin, then left her sensitive skin from his lips, he spread the folds wider with his fingers and inserted his tongue inside the hot wet tightness,

“Ummmrgh!” Jane gripped his hair in her fist and writhed as his tongue worked to dig deeper in her folds, he wriggled his tongue to access her depth and she turned and twisted, curling her toes in response to his dexterous tongue caressing her inner walls.

He felt her inside skin sticky warm and pulsating against his tongue, he thought for a moment and then tried sucking her skin a little and smirked at her response when she screamed his name. He sucked on her folds for some more and then he spread her legs even more and tried to go yet deeper, he thought he could feel some more with his finger, this whole thing was new for him, he was exploring his lover in a way he never had though he would.

Her inner walls started contracting around his skillful tongue, he raised an eyebrow at the response but he kept his tongue going on none the less. He inserted a finger along with his tongue to feel what he thought he felt inside her and that made Jane see stars as he accidently hit her good spot while exploring, she suddenly bucked her hips and pointed her toes out with a moan.  

Her eyes went hazy, her lips went dry as well as her throat and she pushed her pussy into his mouth, arching her back, pushing against the bed a little she gripped his hair in her fist and screamed his name, he again smirked against her sensitive skin and spoke as she did with him,

“Wow! I liked it, say my name again like that!” said Zoro against her skin,

“You know what, come ….come here for a sec!” whispered Jane breathlessly,

“What! Why? I thought you like this!” said Zoro a little disappointed,

“Come here baby! I need to kiss you!” said Jane giving him hazy eyes and slight smile,

He left her lower lips pulling out from her pussy, put his hands on bed on both sides of her torso and leaned down to kiss her, she messily crushed his lips onto hers as she kept tugging on his hair, both kissed each other like there was no tomorrow.

He hummed when he felt her hand capturing his reawaken member. She gripped it firmly and stoked it pumping up, making him completely hard and erect again with just few stokes, in spite of having his recent orgasm he felt the need to cum again, she moved and rubbed her thumb on his cockhead and he moaned into her mouth when her grip tightened, she moved a little and next second he felt his throbbing member pressed against her entrance, he quickly pulled out from kiss with questioning face.

“Je?”, Zoro had wide eyes.

“Just push in baby, okay?” said Jane softy, she removed her hand from his cock which was positioned against her leaking entrance,

“You sure about this? I don’t want to rush you into anything.”

“You are not!!”

“Je, shouldn’t you ask me to have to use some protection? I have never bee..” Zoro asked hurried and worried, Jane cupped his cheek and whispered softly,

“Hey! You asked me to trust you, I trust you Zoro! I love you!” said Jane,

“Love you too!” whispered Zoro back and leaned in to capture her lips again, he closed his eyes as he started pushing his member inside her clenching hole. Zoro’s lips left hers as he grunted becase what he was feeling was beyond pleasurable, he felt extremely tight warm wet walls around his hard meat, wrapping him in hot tightness. Jane had thrown her head back as she collapsed on bed again, Zoro had to put some more force to go in completely, he drew sharp breaths from parted lips as he tried to burry himself deep in her.

He was very thick and long, Jane opened up and pushed on him biting on her lower lip to let the inexperienced and virgin Zoro slid inside her, but the pain was much more than she had expected, she started breathing heavily as he stretched her open. She blinked away the tears gathered in her eyes and shuddered in pain adjusting around his thick member. Zoro stopped when he felt himself seated all the way in her, he opened his eyes to take look his lover writhing under his form,

“Hey? You …..you okay?” asked Zoro breathlessly, worried about Jane as he noticed her pained expressions,

“I am, it’s just …..that…….you are so damned big!” whispered Jane blinking as she was trying adjust herself around him,

“I am pulling out?” said Zoro genuinely worried while trying to move out of her, but that brought smile on her lips in spite of the pain,

“No idiot! Move!” said Jane chuckling a little though the burn in her hole, blinking the tears away she bucked her hips,

“Hunn? Move?” asked Zoro blinking,

“You sound so cute like this!” said Jane and brought him close to kiss him grabbing his neck, gave him a quick peck on lips,

“I don’t sound cute!” said Zoro narrowing his eyes on her.

She put her hands on bed, supported herself up and she moved her waist, to slide up and down on his shaft making him growl, he felt his cock squeeze by her walls and God! That was hell lot of better than jerking off or having a head.

That feeling made him moan in pleasure and he started moving on his own to match her rhythm. Soon their speed matched and Jane slumped on the bed as her legs gave out, Zoro kept thrusting as both moaned each other’s names enveloped in overwhelming feeling of lovemaking.

Being big and long, he kept hitting her good spot right from start, he liked her reaction every time he hit home and he sped up the process as he went on, as thrusting grew wilder Jane’s walls squeezed his dick to make him want to cum in her, both came unannounced within minutes from where they had started, he filled her with his seed once more while Jane was left limp and exhausted under him after she came on his hard member inside her. He panted to catch his breath and rested his head on her chest as he slumped on her, tired from his second and yet powerful orgasm.

They stayed silent for few minutes, resting a little to catch breath,

“Zoro, come here!” demanded Jane cutely, he knew now that she wanted to kiss him,

“You okay?” asked Zoro worried as he scooted closer to her after pulling himself out from her entrance,

Jane nodded and Zoro caught her lips in a long kiss, when he pulled back Jane looked totally satisfied and happy but tired and sleepy, he took her in his arms as he slid near her and turned on his side for making her rest against him.

“You looked in pain for a minute there, so I asked……..” whispered Zoro said and Jane raised her eyebrow,

“Don’t worry so much! I can take you on any moment and win, I am your boss and your captain, don’t forget that, you better keep in mind how strong I am though I am bottoming here!” said Jane in scolding voice as she turned on her side to adjust comfortably in his embrace.

“What you mean bottoming? You are a girl. It has to be like that!” Zoro said simply as matter of fact,

“Yeah? Next time I will show you who is in control here, Boy!” said Jane raising an eyebrow, Zoro snorted and blinked a little as he thought of her reaction,

“When is the next time?” asked Zoro mischievously, giving her a cocky grin,

“Next time is when the next time is, Sherlock! Don’t act smart with me!” Jane replied pinching his nose, he took her hand away from his nose and kissed her hand,

“That was awesome Jane! I don’t know how to tell you what I felt, I felt complete, I know it lasted for few minutes but Fuck! It felt like really long time, I have never felt anything like it before and I don’t know how to put it in words but...” Zoro stopped as Jane talked while he was talking,

“I loved it too! Feeling is mutual Zoro!” said Jane smiling slightly and caressing his cheek,

“Um…..hey…..I did not do anything wrong, did I?” asked Zoro awkwardly,  

“No, but now you know what to do. And you were really good for an inexperienced, to tell you the truth you are great with your tongue!” Jane said awkwardly,

“R…Really?” asked Zoro sounding surprised, he tightened his grip on Jane, she looked away from his face and laced her fingers with his,

“Um-hum!” replied Jane resting her head on his chest.

“I actually had asked Law about this stuff I mean I had nobody to ask to….um..…he told me many things before…. you know, before I asked you and all; he told me to watch porn, I denied so he wanted me to read which also I denied, finally I got him to talk but he talked as if he reading aloud the newspaper! Bored me to hell! That bastard!” said Zoro sounding awkward,

Jane chuckled at his confession,

“You are so cute when you talk like that!” said Jane tugging on his hand playfully, he made her look at him by putting his finger under her chin and he narrowed his eyes on her mischievous smile,

“For the last time, I don’t sound cute!” growled Zoro, Jane snorted at him and pushed his hand away and rest her head on his chest again, his hands were caressing her skin satisfied with lovely reddish pink marks he had created on her milky white skin as he kissed and sucked her all over her skin. He stopped smiling when he recalled scars on her inner thighs, his eyes fell on some weird angry marks on her skin, they looked fading away,    

“Why you have these wired marks there on thighs? They look like wounds, I mean, it must have hurt, I mean why there, did your……?” Zoro could not frame a question right, he had an idea of what they were but he could not bring himself to ask her directly, Jane understood his intention and spoke,

“Lucci” answered Jane simply,

“Jane you are strong and mature, you could hav..”

“Don’t worry, it won’t scar, they would go away, I have one here too, look, it’s almost gone! And even if they did scar, I have plenty of them already so what does one more mean??” said Jane avoiding his question, pointing her finger to her neck,  there were marks of teeth on her neck but they were as good as fade scars,

“All I wanted to know is ‘Why did you let him use teeth in there’, it is not like you are some helpless girl and he was….[Zoro sighed stopping in middle of sentence] Don’t answer that, I am sorry!” said Zoro as he understood her uneasiness,

“Me too! He was all about teeth, not much of a tongue artist!” said Jane nonchalantly as if she was talking about someone else,

“I am sorry baby! I did not mean to hurt you but I did!” said Zoro angry at himself and worried about Jane,

“You did not hurt me Zoro, I know you just can’t! Don’t worry…..…it’s just that I don’t want to think about him at all!”,

“Damn right! I don’t want you to think about anything else other than me, especially when you are with me!”

She went silent after that, she felt lulled to sleep listening to his heartbeat, his fingers combing her hair, her tired body rested against his comfortably,

Zoro looked at Jane, ‘His Jane’, comfortable and resting in his arms, so close and so calm, he felt happy and complete.

‘It’s like there is no sorrow in the world, no sadness, I feel at peace, so good! I have never felt like this before! Jane you are the best thing that could have ever happened to me, I am glad that I met you when I did, that night on Nami’s birthday, I saw you at the traffic lights! Wish I could have spotted you earlier, made you mine, loved you and took care of you, I wish you never would have gone through anything terrible, wish I could have been in your life even before that Lucci came into your life! Shit! That bastard again! I should not have brought it up! I just made her recall her pain and what the hell am I thinking!’ Zoro cursed himself.

He caressed her head, then gently he cupped her face and made her look at him,

“Je? Are you going to be okay?” whispered Zoro,  

“If you are okay with whatever and whoever I am right now then I am going to be okay!”

“I am not letting him or anybody or anything else come between us now, nothing is going to part us! I love you no matter what!” said Zoro firmly,

“Then I love you too no matter what!” said Jane in same tone Zoro used and slightly smiled at him, he returned the gesture and helped her rest her head on him again,

After few minute of silence………

“Hungry?” asked Zoro,

“Hmm. My headache is sort of gone! I mean it’s still there but I can barely feel it, like a numb ache now” said Jane softly, Zoro moved her and rested her on bed, kissed her forehead before he moved away from her and climbed off bed,

“Come, we will have breakfast and I will make you some coffee!” said Zoro finding some clothes to put on and started putting up his briefs, he found his t-shirt sprawled over the bed, he picked it up and moved to other end of bed where Jane was,

“Great Idea! I really do need some coffee!” said Jane sitting up, she stretched herself yawning herself to tears, then blinked a little. Zoro came near her, slipped his t-shirt on Jane over her head, it was quite big but looked just cute on her, he smirked a little remembering the day he made her ware his cloths in his apartment, she understood what that smirk was for as she pushed him away playfully. He came closer again and picked her up in his arms and they made their way to kitchen….. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro decided to spend his much-needed God-given free day with his girlfriend, Jane; of course that was his obvious choice and he couldn’t have hoped for any better. Shanks really did want them to be together, Shanks approved of Zoro and he supported him which Zoro was happy about.

After the breakfast and Coffee, Jane took him to a room she had in her apartment which was her memory storage rather a time capsule, she never let anybody be there other than Shanks. When they reached the door, Zoro noticed Jane taking a silent moment before moving her hand to the control panel of the room to open the door to the mysterious room.

Door had a photo of Jane with her Augsta in which she sat on her bike and showed her palm gesturing to stop to the one who viewed the photo.

“Zoro, this room is not for everybody to see or peek in! So considered yourself privileged!” said Jane glancing at him, he smirked at her before replying,

“Many thanks your highness! I am flattered!” chided Zoro mock bowing her, she snorted at him as she entered some code in the panel and used her key card. Then a glass window opened where Jane put her palm for it to scan and a light blinked red,

‘voice authorization required’ was a computerized sound,

“Jane Jaraquille!” said Jane and a door slid open, Jane took Zoro by hand and pulled him in,

“Someone is sure in hurry!” chided Zoro smirking, but his smirk dissolved into an expression of surprise when he went inside, room was full of photos, every wall had photos everywhere on them, he noticed many glass shelfs containing some books. There were many toy guns, water guns, some old toys, a broken tennis bat, a helmet, some old shoes placed neatly on glass shelf. There was an old bike in center of room, placed for display like it was a souvenir, brown colored speed bad, a pair of red old worn out boxing glows hanging of shelf, a bokken and Tonfa were put on stand so were the five magnificent swords.

“Je, what is this room?” was his spontaneous reaction.

“It’s me, my things that I can’t let go off, from my childhood to adulthood! Of course, after Mihawk and Shanks took me in! I don’t have many habits but I do like to collect things and memories like this!” replied Jane calmly.

He mindlessly walked into room, stopped at when he reached at the center approximately and looked around as he observed the room, it had feel of nostalgia, Zoro felt homesick all of a sudden, he took a long breath in and closed his eyes,

“God! I am gonna go and visit my old man soon!” whispered Zoro,

“Liked it?”

“You kidding me! Jane, it’s saccharine!!” whispered Zoro in calm voice,

“I knew you would love it!”

Something small and familiar caught his attention and walked over to the glass shelf to take a closer look, his eyes widen a little in a surprise,

“Jane, that the card I gave you that day??”  Asked Zoro astonished or more like spoke to himself looking at the small item, the card which he had scribbled his number messily and given it to Jane when she dropped him to _Baratie_ , back then he thought that he was giving his card to some cool guy with Hawkeye bike. He was in an awe that Jane had kept it in the room she held so dear,

“Um-hmm!” said Jane agreeing and nodding slightly, he held out his hand for Jane to take, gesturing her to come closer. She walked over to him, put her hand in his, he pulled her closer and put his arm around her waist.

“But you said you did not remember seeing me or meeting me that day!” whispered Zoro confused a little,

“I still don’t”

“But..” asked him, Zoro sounded uneasy, she gave a slight shy little smile before she started speaking,

“Well, you told me you that you saw me that day for the first time, and you liked me the moment you saw me!! Well, Zoro, that’s the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me! I couldn’t get it out of my mind since you told me that. When I came back home the day after we had drinks at Bob’s, I searched all of my stuff and I found that little card in my Jacket. I had put it in my cardholder back then but …..”

“But?” asked Zoro raising his eyebrow to her shy smile, her face was flushed a little as she continued,

“We started seeing each other more often and got closer….and you…. [She paused a little before continuing] … After that day, I couldn’t help but put that little baby in here! You…Zoro….. kind of turned my whole life upside down so ..” Jane was interrupted by a quick kiss on lips.

Jane smiled sweetly at him when they pulled out, he planted kiss on her forehead before speaking, she put her hands on his cheeks, holding his face in her hands as she listened him speaking,

“We made love just an hour back, I…… like….I ate you …rather… drank ….it was like a drug….. , I felt complete and full. Like I would never need anything ever again but I am thirsty now! Let this be the first lesson in love!” spoke Zoro huskily against her forehead,

“You writing poetry now! My Shakespeare in love!” teased Jane and pulled him into another kiss.

\---------------

Jane and Zoro, they were seated on floor, leaning into each other, resting their backs against wall, he had a scrapbook open in his hands as she told him incidents from her childhood as she showed him photos.

“Wow! That you?” asked Zoro amused,

“Yup!” said Jane,

In photo Jane stood on Shanks’ shoulders, he was supporting her with hands holding the child’s legs as she stood with her arms stretched outwards, toothy smile on her face, her eyes almost closed enjoying the wind, her hair ruffled with blowing wind, she looked so happy and full of life,

“Shit! What are you here? 6?”

“12! Look at the date moron!” chided Jane playfully.

“You look so frigging small! No way, you look like you are 12!” exclaimed Zoro,

“Kinda happens when you are starved for days! I was fed just to keep alive, never knew how full stomach felt. That cycle continued for many years! Sometimes I felt that I would never going to leave and he just wouldn’t let me die!” said Jane bitterly.

“That sick bastard!” muttered Zoro under his breath,

“Chuck it!” Jane quickly added,

“You recovered well!” said Zoro thoughtfully.

“Um-hum!! Took Shanks months to make me healthy again! Then I started putting up some weight! But I never grew muscly like him!” Jane showed him a photo where Jane and Shanks posed with similar cheeky grins.

That was last photo in the scrapbook. He closed it before keeping it away and pulled Jane into his lap,

“Can I keep one photo?” asked Zoro cupping her face.

“You can keep me! What you need a photo for?”

“Yeah? Can you make yourself look like what you did when you were 12! If you can, I won’t ask for a photo!” said Zoro playfully pinching her cheeks.

“Okay! Okay! Take what you want! Leave my face! Goddamn it!” cursed Jane playfully trying to get away from him, he left her cheeks and put arms around her,

“So, you ready to meet the group yet! Let us go and see those idiots, it’s been while, you will feel good with them around, we all got back from death-match you know, Luffy was so enraged and he just was dead set on making Lucci pay for what he and his bunch did to us!” suggested Zoro.

“Hum, it’s been a while since I talked to them, months actually!” replied Jane.

“It’s okay, they deserved that!”

“No they did not deserve any of that, I was too coward to face them!”

“Now you are just being modest! Just screw others but Luffy and Ace! You need to talk to them! C’mon, let’s just go and hang out with them for a change! So much happened in so less time! You also should talk to Jason!”

“I miss Luffy too, Ace had called me once, before he went dark, I hope he is alright! Marco said he is chasing some ghost! And he said Jason is experiencing depression. He must have got the reinstatements by now! I wonder why he has not contacted me or John yet!”

“Shall I call Marco and make him bring Jason along! We will go to _Baratie_ for Lunch! I will call everybody, I am sure they be happy to see you!”

“I don’t know! Decide it yourself!” said Jane resting her head on his shoulder.

“hey, I want to take you to the Whiskey peak in the evening!” said Zoro quickly, Jane raised an eyebrow but kept smiling none the less.

The town had an area where they used to have racers race for money and wine, while others bet on their favorite racer, it was not exactly legal but people used to enjoy none the less,

“Yeah?” asked Jane at his unusual sudden plan,

“Um-hum! Do you want to go there? With me?” asked Zoro with a questioning face, his fingers curled into her blond locks.

“Hmm good idea! I will! So, you want to race?” asked Jane sounding surprised at his demand,

“I sure as hell do! You will enjoy! I promise!” said Zoro brushing some strands away from face with his other hand finding her hair to play with,

“I know but many people know me there, they don’t wanna race with me! Besides Shanks is never going to let me go there, let alone now, while I am still recovering, you have to sneak me out!” replied Jane raising her eyebrow at him,

“That’s half the whole fun!” smirked Zoro nuzzling her hair,

“Cool!” chirped Jane excitedly.

“Your hair is longer now! Are you going to cut it again?” whispered Zoro.

“You want me to cut ‘em or keep ‘em?” asked Jane enjoying his feel, his fingers in her hair,

“I love them like this! But if you want to cut you should!” came his muffled voice.

“I will keep them if you do this often!” said Jane leaning into his touch………..

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**At the Baratie**

A particular table was very noisy and quite alive than rest of the whole place, one could even hear some cheers or whines over music the place had. No doubt it was the weirdly amazing bunch of Luffy’s. Luffy, Brook, Chopper, Nami, Robin, Franky, Sanji, Marguerite and Boa were hanging out together as Zoro made them gather there

\------

“But I want just one more Nami! Please!” whined Luffy,

“No you don’t! You never want just one more so suck it up!” scolded Nami,

“But you said we get equal share at money!” whined Luffy again,

“We do idiot! But you are not spending our hard earned money into buying food for that bottomless pit of yours!” yelled Nami pinching and stretching Luffy’s cheeks,

“Scary!” mumbled Chopper cowering away from Nami,

“What you said?” yelled Nami turning to look at Chopper, he submissively raised his hands up, shaking his head replying her anger,

“Okay then I am going to buy a big bronze statue! When I say big I mean huge!” exclaimed Luffy raising his hands in air happily.

“No you don’t!” added Usopp,

“Why not?” asked Luffy but his next whines were ignored as whole group welcomed Usopp and Kaya to join in,

“We needed that money for the Merry! But we could not save her, now we are giving it to franky for the ‘Thousand Sunny project’ you got it! You better keep your hands away from the money!” scolded Usopp,

“Yo Usopp bro, I never said it’s name was Thousand sunny! It was the…”

There was a huge mess and mixture of various exclaims causing nonsensical clamour as everybody shouted out different names they wanted the project to have, after that they all went silent.

“Wow! Thousand Sunny sounds good!” was a comment from a person standing a few feet away from the booth.

“Sana!” exclaimed Luffy and jumped off his seat to run towards her, she ruffled his hair and returned his toothy grin with equal happiness.

“Jane chan! How good for you to come here! It’s been a while, you also missed my birthday! How are you now?” said Chopper with innocent eyes, she smiled at him cutely,

“I am fine chopper thank you! How are you guys?” asked Jane walking closer to them, Luffy took her by hand and made he sit near him,

“Luffy, has Ace come back yet?” asked Jane trying to cover her discomfort, she had been avoiding all of them for far too long than she had originally planned for.

“No, he hasn’t, I got a note few days back saying he was going out of grand line to find a guy who killed his friend!” said Luffy shrugging,

“Don’t worry about him Jane chan, he can take care of himself, he is very strong!” said Sanji who was seated on other side, she nodded at him smiling a little,

There was an awkwardness in the atmosphere, they all were seeing Jane for the first time after returning back from Rosolt lands, she had got injured badly in the attack, before that she had deadly panic attack and none of them got a shot at apologizing her properly or even to say that they were sorry or worried about her, she never visited Brook’s or Baratie after that, she had just met Sanji when she helped Zoro move and then it was the incident of Robin’s abduction by CP9, in that thing too they saw her but never got a chance to thank her for saving their lives nor to say how sorry they were to hurt her by pulling that prank on her. They all now knew that Rob Lucci was her ex-boyfriend and they also knew she tried to shoot herself, they also knew that for sake of saving Robin’s life Jane offered her own instead.

Robin was grateful for her help, Franky and Vivi were in guilt that they hid the truth form he all these years she spent looking for Robin, Sanji had a guilt weighing his mind for many things that went terribly wrong when Sanji had tried to make up the relation he had with Zoro, that affected her, hurt her.  Above all, Nami had a huge guilt in her mind for trapping Jane in that prank which she lead others in pulling it off on Jane, giving her a panic attack.

“Please, I just want everything to go normal again! Don’t be like this with me!” finally Jane said snapping all of them out.

“Jane chan, we had to have this talk one day, I mean we all did know that it was coming, please we want you to be with us like you used to” said Brook sincerely,

“Jane, I apologize for what I did!” said Nami in tight voice and with heavy heart, Jane shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but Sanji jumped in the conversation,

“Jane chan I am sorry too!” quickly blurted out Sanji, Jane tried to protest but Vivi took Jane’s hand in hers,

“Me too! I am sorry Jane!” added Vivi,

“Enough you guys! Please! I know you did not mean it as an affront! Can we just forget about that day!” said Jane awkwardly.

“You saved our life! You are very brave Jane!” praised Chopper,

“Thank you chopper but we all do save our friends, don’t we?” said Jane smiling at him.

“hum-hum!” nodded Chopper, “But you fought the whole bunch of them alone! That was amazing!” said Chopper cutely.

“About that! You did save your friends but you saved my life as well! Not a friend, not a client, I tried to harm the people you care about, yet never your weapon was pointed to me! I thank you for all you did for me!” came Robin’s sincere voice,

“I did my job Ma’am!” said Jane nodding at her,

“And I did mine, as a lover, as a protector, I am not going to apologize for making Robin my priority. She is only one to have the key skill to encrypt all those files, only one alive! I had to protect her, that device that could revive the scrip with evidences in it was in iceberg’s possession, he skillfully transplanted it in one of my machine without me knowing. So he outsmarted all of us. At last I ended up destroying the evidence and device itself so that she would not have been coming after again by some stupid agents in disguise! I did wrong to you, I admit that but I am sure you would have done the same!” said Franky furrowing his brows,

“You are right! I would have done the same if it was Zoro!” said Jane in firm voice without delaying for a second,  

“Gee! I am flattered! Thanks Je!” mocked Zoro in response to her statement as he came walking towards the group along with Cohza, Bonny, Perona and Kid on his heels.

Jane’s expressions did not change, she was still tensed and uneasy, she knew the awkwardness in atmosphere was because she avoided her friends for too long. Nami noticed her tensed features, her furrowed brows, a frown that was in place on her face since she came and sat with them, except for small occasional smiles at Chopper and Luffy.

“Finally found us Zoro, how many wrong turns you took this time?” chided Nami smirking,

“None of your business, witch!” Zoro narrowed his eyes on Nami,

“Hey watch your mouth moss-brain!” spat Sanji but his eyebrow twitched at his own sound,

“Or what?? Bring it on ero-cook!” growled Zoro before he could stop himself …..

It came so spontaneously, as if their body was so much used to doing this, Sanji did even without wanting to do it, Nami smirked at Sanji’s ‘surprised at himself’ expressions, he was behaving quite uncommonly in last few weeks, suddenly had picked up a verbal fight with Zoro, he himself was shocked at his own voice and so was Zoro,

Zoro also realized what happened when Sanji gave him flushed face, they did it out of habit and that helped the situation and Nami smirked triumphal at the success of her plan,

“Quit it you two!” exclaimed Usopp,

“Yeah! Tell him to talk with some respect first!” Sanji continued deliberately,

“I don’t need you to teach me respect, you stupid cook!” snarled Zoro responding to cook’s arrogance with stubbornness of his own, he felt at ease that Sanji was back to hating him instead of hitting on him,

“No, you need to repeat school all over again just to be able to be eligible to take any lessons from me, moss-for-brains!” mocked Sanji greeting his teeth, but before Zoro could say anything,

“I don’t mind repeating school it would be fun, they have PT class and they also have picnics! So awesome!” came Luffy’s happy voice all of a sudden, that made Jane snort at her kid brother, she shook her head ruffling his hair and Zoro sighed relaxing himself a little.

“Yeah! You did not even attend your school when you were supposed to, nobody is going to let you in, you never was much of a school-guy in the first place!” exclaimed Usopp,

“He didn’t?” asked Chopper.

“We used to sneak out of school and run to forest!” said Luffy cheerfully,

Nami was smiling at the fact that corner of Jane’s lips were twitched upwards, slight smile was playing upon her lips watching all her friends goofing off like usual, the edginess in air was now dissipated, she did not feel uneasy anymore

\---------------

After some time they all decided to crash at Vivi’s and spend the rest if the night together, playing games.

Jane, Chopper, Luffy, Usopp, franky were playing some board game they had at Vivi’s, Luffy was impersonating various people, mimicking, talking like they talk, especially Snaji and Zoro, he was making them laugh their heads off; Robin, Kaya, Boa, Brook were seated near the noisy Luffy and enjoying watching them play,

Zoro, Kid and Cohza were standing at bar counter, hands full with bottles they were supposed to carry to the remaining bunch, they were talking with each other, Zoro kept glancing at Jane repeatedly, just to keep checking on, if she was okay, Kid noticed it and so did others,

“Quit it Dude! She is doing just fine! The fuck happened to you eh?” asked Kid smirking cheekily, but sudden taunt make Zoro snap at Eustass Kid.

“What! What the hell Eustass!” whisper yelled Zoro,

“Yeah?” mocked Kidd giving him cocky smirk,

“Let it go Eustass, he is in love, cut him some slack will you?” mocked Cohza,

“Like you are not!” mocked Kid as he snorted at Cohza, Cohza was about to speak when Zoro suddenly exclaimed,

“The Fuck is wrong in that man?” asked Zoro glancing at Jane again, he found her laughing her head off, he sighed in satisfaction before looking away,

“Though I am in love I don’t do that!” teased Cohza.

“He is new one! He will get over it!” said Perona,

“Mind your own frigging business!” exclaimed Zoro with flushed face,

“My my!” commented Bonny,

“Look guys, last time, we all were together, she got that horrible panic attack out of the blue, it happened right before my eyes and I couldn’t stop that, I could do shit. It was like any other day, she was smiling and laughing, just like this, and a minute later she is in state of mind that she can’t handle…I don’t want that to happen again!”

“It’s not going to happen again.” said Cohza calmly,

“Yeah! It was an accident Zoro!” Bonny said quickly,

“But ………..he can’t help but worry!” teased Kid,

“Yeah! That’s so sweet!” said Vivi smiling at Zoro’s flushed face,

“Shut the hell up!” yelled Zoro,

Vivi, Perona and Bonny had come walking to them, so as to help them carry all the stuff.

“Just Marco and Jason are missing out the fun! Ace and Law are away and they can’t be here but Marco and Jason can. I think we should call them and ask them to join us, Jane would be happy to see him.” said Vivi thoughtfully,

“I think that is great idea, it’s too much fun to tease those two!” said Bonny smirking,

“We should call Tashigi too!” suggested Nami,

“Okay! I will call Marco!” said Kid,

“I am gonna call Tash, Nami!” said Perona.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 


	21. Perfidy and Catastrophe

Everybody near him was either scared of him or hated him, and he never expected anybody to understand him anyway. He was like that since the very start, he was alone for longer than he could remember, he had learned the evil ways of the world far earlier, just as a child he became aware of his abilities and he became distant and secluded from the world. He needed no one, he was smart and powerful, loner and self-sufficient in every way or he had though so until certain Red head had made him fall in love again. And now He felt betrayed……….

Mihawk wanted to love the Redhead so much, he wanted to be with him but he could not overlook the betrayal.

‘When is it that you feel betrayed? When you find your wife in bed with the man you help escape the death or when you find your boyfriend flirting with his best friend?’ thought Mihawk.

‘I stabbed her first! I had too! If I would not have killed her first I knew I would not have gone through with it! And the look on his face! Priceless!! To see his lover, to see his wife dying right before his eyes!! That ungrateful bastard! I had spared his life, showed mercy once and he…., he took my wife from me! And her! To do such a thing! Unforgivable! Her betrayal was far too extreme to keep my forbearance! If she wanted to leave that badly, she could have told me, I could have let her go! Making me go through the pain of her untimely death and making me feel helpless that I could not save her, all that staging! I still don’t believe they succeeded in tricking me!! They made a fool out of me? I thought I was perfect, thought I knew how to deal with every situation, thought I was different than others, I would never get the emotions better of me! That’s what I wanted for Jane too! I showed a weakness after all! I guess I don’t have anything to complain about her now. That kid is way happier with Zoro, I won’t let Zoro hurt her, that’s the only motive I have for keeping him under my surveillance at all the times, I wont let anybody harm her now.’

‘But what do I do to forget these two? Even after death, her betrayal is hunting me!! Unforgivable crime! Death was easy escape, I showed her mercy, I wanted her to feel my wrath, the sorrow and burden she put me through once but I gave her an easy death. But why I mourn her death caused by my very hands! I thought I had no regret when my blade slit her throat but I could not help but take her in my arms.’

_Mihawk ran to the dead body of the woman he had killed, he took her into hug for a second, then pulled out looked at her face, her eyes were still wide, with panic….with fear in them, even after the death, she was more than frightened…..her expressions actually never changed since when her brain had registered Mihawk’s presence in their bedroom, she could not even shout or cry, not even once she asked him to spare her life or her husband’s for that matter, she knew that the death was unavoidable, she was shown some mercy as Mihawk awarded her by a quick death unlike the painful one, the other man in the same room had experienced._

_He bled to death, agonizingly slow as he kept experiencing the excruciating pain in various parts of his body. There were cuts, deep wounds on his arms and legs, he was restrained and gagged. All he could do is bleed to death and cry in agony. His pleads to spare his life were falling to deaf ears as Mihawk looked at the bleeding man with cold golden eyes. The man knew, he knew deep in his heart, if found by Mihawk his death would not be easy! And that was truth! Mihawk watched him bleed, cry in pain, man did not know if to cry of his wounds or to mourn his wife’s death as she died right before his eyes. Those piercing golden eyes, bored into Man’s own, watching him die slowly…._

_Mihawk had come out of nowhere, like a ghost. The guy did not even get time to respond when he saw Mihwak slit his wife’s throat. He could not as much as gasp before he experienced his legs being stabbed with knives. He was pinned to the bed with various blades before he could know what was happening._

Mihawk sighed in memory    

‘And Shanks, I don’t know what to do with you, not only you hid this all from me but also you dared to break my heart! I should not have let anybody in my heart at all! Being alone protects me! I should not have fallen for anybody, how could I show such a weakness, they misused the lenity I offered………..’

Mihawk did not know if to regret falling in love with the Redhead or to ask him to explain why this all had happened. Shanks had never talked to Mihawk after Mihawk accused him of cheating on him with Ben. Shanks never said a word, all he did was to stay silent, never confronted never tried to explain anything.

‘I thought you were different, you were with me for years, we have had this awkward bond for years, finally I let my uneasiness slip away, I let you in, I loved you, showed my true feelings to you and you had to cheat on me! I told you I don’t like to share! I don’t get it, when you waited for me for years then why you had to do it in the first place Shanks! Why? Shall I now let go everything? You are never coming back now? Have you left for good? What about Jane, have you told her what exactly had happened between us? She would not talk to me like she used to! I know she is beating herself up about the thing happened between us! I don’t know what to do with her! If not for that Roronoa kid, I don’t know how she could have handled everything!’

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Everything was now back to normal for Jane, there were peaceful times again, Jane had been through a lot lately and so was Zoro. Jane now had a honest and affectionate lover, had her brother Luffy and Ace with her, she had a group of people who loved her as a friend and admired her as a person, Law was back on being her best friend now though he had not been sharing his mission details she knew he had it under control, Rosolt islands and its people were in good health, Jason and Marco were in a stable relationship and that made her happy to no end, Sanji was back on being friends with Zoro like he was before the trip to the Rosolt lands, everything was coming back to the way it should be and Jane was quite okay with the way the things were around her nowadays. Only wrinkle she could not iron out was Mihawk, her elder brother also her only family member, he still was different and distant as ever, that distant between him and Shanks never seemed lessening and that was only thing got her worried.

Zoro and Jane now were together now, as close as two persons in love can be, they were inseparable in a sense; Shanks was happy for her, he was happy that Jane had finally found a worthy partner in her life.

**_In Jane’s office, after office hours……._ **

John was packing Jane’s stuff from office for she had to leave it now and Jane was helping him rather instructing him,

“Jane I have got this, you go and do what you have to!” mocked John,

“Yeah?”

Jane sat on the sofa and slumped on it giving a tired sigh,

“I know you just want to stay here for some more, right?” asked John as he put the stuff in box,

“Don’t get sentimental, do your work!” Jane dismissed him,

“Yeah! Right! Like I am the one being the sentimental one here!”

“Jason is way better organizer than you!” taunted Jane as she closed her eyes,

“You want me to fetch him in here?”

She opened her mouth to answer him but there was sound of door unlocking, they both saw Zoro coming in, Zoro noted her features showing her irritation,

“Is this guy bothering you honey?”

“Seriously Zoro, you are such a relief, John can be such a pain in ass sometimes! I don’t know why I don’t fire him?” said Jane and closed her eyes as she threw her head back and relaxed on the sofa

“Without him we would forget how to deal with the pain in ass that is why!”

“Oi!” John’s yelled wasn’t paid any heed,

“Anyways you are needed somewhere else, Commodore Admiral Jane Jaraquille!” said Zoro mock saluting her, Jane raised her eyebrow at him,

“I am what now? What the hell is wrong with you? I am still a captain and I am not gonna get called that for three more days! And I am off duty right now!”

Jane furrowed her brows and closed eyes, Zoro grabbed a seat near his girlfriend,

“Je! Ben wants to see you!”

“Now?” asked Jane opening one of her eyes to look at him as she turned her head to look in his direction,

“Yeah!”

Zoro gestured John to leave, John nodded and started walking away,

“Where the hell do you think you are going?” asked Jane, eyes closed, brows furrowed,

“I need a bathroom break captain!” John walked out of office snorting at her angry face, John went out and locked the door behind him,

“Okay tough girl! What are you so pissed about?” asked Zoro taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together, he rested his back on sofa seating the way she did, right next to her slumped form,

“I don’t know……[sighed Jane] …..it just doesn’t feel right.” Said Jane opening her eyes as she stared at the white ceiling,

“What is?”

 Jane gripped his hand firmly before speaking,

“Except for shanks’ disturbed mindset and his messed up relationship which he seems has made peace with somehow, this…this smoothness in my life ..…we are close and together…we are doing great…..office is doing fine …people are okay……crime rate is going down….everybody near me is fine, no problem at all, I mean something is wrong with this picture. It seems as if something bigger and badder is coming our way. And this time, I am not gonna able to stop it. It’s been two months since CP9 attacked our building and the Iceberg incident and everything is running so smooth and fine, I am more than a little skeptical!!”

“I don’t see what is odd in that. Problems come and go. We fight them and recover.” Zoro simply shrugged.

“You are right Zoro but it’s too quiet to be true.” Jane said turning her head to look at him now,

“What you want to say?”

“I am getting this feeling since the morning. Something is staring me in face and I am not able to see it Zoro. There is something going on right under my nose and I am not doing anything about it!” whispered Jane back,

“I am never going to understand how your sixth sense works!!”

“It’s not a sixth sense, I am being a good detective, we ask questions! That is what I am doing!”

“No baby, you are being paranoid. Peaceful times can last for a while longer you know and we are prepared for what comes when it comes, so don’t worry now! You have enough on your plate with Shanks and Mihawk as it is. I think that is what Ben wants to talk to you about.” Said Zoro as matter of fact. Jane sighed tiredly and sat up straight. Jane left his hand and stood up,

“So, I am supposed to go to his office now?” asked Jane rolling her sleeves up to elbow,

“No, he is visiting your place in 20.”

“My place?” asked Jane offering him her hand, he put his hand in hers and she pulled him up,

“Um-hum! He said it’s better if you do it there.” Said Zoro getting up and putting his arms around her waist.

“I haven’t been there for months. I am mostly at Shanks’ or at yours.” Said Jane giving him tired face,

“I know!”

“Go with me!” said Jane pulling on his arms and motioning him to follow as she pulled herself out from his arms.

“I am not going with you, I have some other business to attend to!” said Zoro smirking, Jane was about to unlock the door but Zoro suddenly pulled her to him by grabbing her arm, she smiled slightly as she knew what he wanted and slightly shook her head at her boyfriend,

“Really?? What business?” asked Jane and chewed in her bottom lip as she found herself in his arms again, even in a tighter grip than before…

“You!” Zoro leaned in to catch her lips,

“You are going with me!!” stubbornly said Jane in the kiss,

“No…I think he wants to talk to you…alone…..” replied Zoro against her lips, he brought his hand on back of her head and changed angle to deepen the kiss but,

“Why is tha..!!” Jane managed to talk wanting to know more but he adjusted her neck a bit to slide his tongue in her mouth.

Jane moaned inaudibly as he traced the curve of her spine with his hand while his lips sucked on her tongue, his other hand in her hair, on back of her head, massaged her scalp lovingly; he almost had smudged whole of her body to his, wrapping her in his powerful arms. He held her as if his life depended on her and that was the feeling Jane was madly in love with.

He made her feel like she was only one in world for him, it made her feel powerful and it made her feel in charge, as if she was only one Zoro lived for. Jane’s hands made their way to Zoro’s face, she caressed his handsome face, he gave a hum of satisfaction feeling her loving fingers on his face, he loved the way she made him feel, they were perfectly matched lovers. He brought his arm on her ass and lifted her off the ground, as tall as she was, she immediately towered above him. Jane passionately kissed him back dominating the kiss enjoying the advantage height she had over him, Zoro growled as she fisted his hair and made him throw his head back to open his mouth further,

The rhythm of their tongue sliding over each other , their bodies grinding against each other’s was making her heart beat faster, she wrapped her hands around his neck and moved her legs up to wrap around his waist, he let himself drop on the sofa with Jane seated on top of him. His hands on her waist, now slipped inside her shirt to feel her skin. They soon broke for air, panting heavily as they caught their breaths, resting their foreheads together,

“I…[panting heavily]…am never gonna get …[pant]…..enough of your kisses!”,

“That’s my line Je! I am never going to get enough of you!!” said Zoro and bent closer to her, she slipped her hands in his shirt to feel his strong chest and powerful muscly back when she attacked him with another kiss.

He happily returned the kiss, he smirked in kiss at her dominance over him and moved them so as to put Jane on sofa on her back and Zoro came on top as for he wanted to enjoy ravishing her mouth now, his one hand finding her ass and other hand on her boob. Jane moaned sensually, parting her lips as both her sensitive curves got massaged at the same time.  He then lifted her a little with his hand on her ass to rub her groin on his half hard member confined in his pants and that made both of them moan in the kiss. This kiss did not go on for long as they already were breathless to when they started.

“Ohh! Don’t stop! Don’t stop Zoro! Just…..haaah!”

“I can’t stop!” whispered Zoro breathlessly before he started working on her neck for mark he wanted to give his girlfriend,

“But I have to..!”

“Nnnnrghhh!” growled Jane as he sucked on her neck and she knew that by the time he pulled out, there would be reddish pink mark which would tell the world that she belonged to Zoro, that he loved her and that he wanted to tell the world that she was his, that thought had always made her want to love Zoro even more.

When Zoro’s lips left her neck, he found her blinking herself to reality like she always did after he sucked on her neck.

“Why you do that when I do this?” asked Zoro amused as he settled on his side on her right side, near her,

“You….,” said Jane but stopped as she was still finding her breath, she had hold it till Zoro sucked on her skin,

“Me what?” chided Zoro tracing her bottom lip with his finger,

“You incapacitate my thinking, damn! No! my whole brains the whole the time you kiss me! That is why! Moron!” said Jane playfully swatting his hand away and shot up in her position,

“Cool!” said Zoro trying to pull her back to him,

“Cool my ass! Let go now!” said Jane as she stretched herself and moved away from Zoro’s hands trying to contain her in his arms,

“Naah! Hey! Come here for a sec!!” whined Zoro, she got up and narrowed her eyes on him,

“It’s never going to be just for a sec Zoro! It’s never going to be enough for us! Damn! If you are going to around, I am going to lose track of time! Come on lazy butt! Get up! Get up! We gotta go now!” said Jane, Zoro gave a sigh of satisfaction at her words, he just loved the fact that Jane felt the same what he felt for her, she offered him a hand, asked him to grab pulling Zoro up on his feet,

“Yeah! You should probably hurry now! Ben is going to rip my face off if you made him wait anymore!” said Zoro cupping her chin in his hand and giving her quick peck on lips,

“Yeah? Like I am gonna let him! Your face belongs to me!” Jane eyed him smirking while he fixed his shirt,

“Geez! Thanks! I was so dammed terrified for my face!” chided Zoro looking at Jane, Jane was buttoning up her own shirt and fixing the suit,

“So, you going with me???” asked Jane though she knew he wouldn’t, but it was impossible to stay away from him now, even for a minute, she always wanted him in front of her, wanted him somewhere near her, always in plain sight,

“Nah!! You have to do it alone, Captain!” mocked Zoro while fixing her tie for Jane,

“Enough with the Captain already! You yourself have climbed up two ranks in matter of mere months!” exclaimed Jane unlocking the door, pushing Zoro back as he tried to grab her again,

“Aye!! Aye!! Captain!!” Mocked Zoro smirking at her as she left, just to piss her off,

“Asshole vice-captain!” yelled Jane, she shook her head at him as she made her way to meet Ben

“Love you too babe!!” yelled Zoro back, smirking…

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

****

**_At Jane’s, in the balcony….._ **

 

Ben sat on a chair, Jane was standing near the edge, leaning her back against the glass structure, she had her hands folder over her chest and her eyes were sad, an unlit cigarette held her lips,

“Jane, I don’t know how say this in a better way so I will just be blunt! Don’t try and stop Shanks when he says that he is leaving!!” was gruff voice as smoke came out of his mouth. Ben sat with eyes closed, brows furrowed, and cigar in his mouth; he looked extremely troubled and burdened when he said that,

“What? What the hell did you just say?”

Jane stood straight, narrowing her eyes on him,

“How much time you have spent with us?”

Ben folded his hands on his chest, Jane put her hands in her pockets and tried to relax her face but she couldn’t,

“All my life except for the last few years I spent in the Grand line, for last two years most of you are here so I don’t miss you guys much!”

“Exactly!! Shanks came back here for you, he couldn’t stand being away from both of you! You know how he gets, he knew it’s going to weigh his mind, being here yet being away from one he loved so much!”

Ben looking away from Jane as he threw his vision far away in city somewhere,

“What you want to say??? Just spit it out already!!” exclaimed Jane getting frustrated at Ben’s attitude as she too lite her cigarette, she could have a smoke or two with only him, nobody else liked her smoke.

“Look Kid, we all love you and we all got attached to you because Shanks brought you along with him to army headquarters all those year back. You grew up there. You were with us all the time and then suddenly you travelled back to the Grand line for your so called elder brother was back from some creepy gloomy island. Now that was hard for Shanks and you too, so he used to travel back and forth from new world and grand line, that created a havoc and he decide to remotely control everything from here and now we are what we are.”

“I don’t need some dammed history lesson!” spat Jane puffing out smoke from her nostrils, Ben gave her death glare but continued none the less,

“Mihawk became a Warlord and Shanks one of the four emperors, still he managed to tackle both of his jobs, being a leader of an army and being a father. He did all this for that cold hearted prick and for you to be able to attached to your own brother but it did not go well and in the end, all that was for nothing.”

Jane knew that Shanks was going through bad time again because of her brother, she knew Shanks was sad but she wanted to help him fix it not to break it,

“Hey! Ben, it’s just a small misunderstanding okay! Brother loves Shanks, he is not just the type to express it the way people do! He has a temper but I know he loves Shanks, I have seen him behaving differently around Shanks, I have seen him uncharacteristically romantic with him, Brother definitely loves him, and Shanks is not some stupid love-struck school girl, he can handle himself just fine, he always has, it’s just matter of time you see brother wil…” Jane was trying to convince Ben but Ben stopped her,

“How many fucking years you want Shanks to wait for that ungrateful assrat bastard and why the fuck Shanks have to do it every fucking time, what is wrong with you people? Can’t you see how miserable he has become, he is suffocating in here Jane!”  Ben got angry at the situation and blurted all out, Jane widened her eyes a little, her face had expression of worry and surprise, Ben regained his composure and sighed as he threw his head back to look at starry sky,

“B….Ben!!”

Jane threw the cigarette in the ash tray and sat down on the chair in front of him as she dropped her head down,

“Kid you must know this. Though in the rage and disappointment, Shanks once had thought of leaving the Grand line and to go to the place where he truly belongs, really. He did that many times over but could not bring himself to tell you that.” Ben stared at the sky and Jane shot her head up to look at him with terrified eyes,

“He has wasted half of his life span for that stupid bastard and I am not going let him smother himself to death. You are only one who can hold him down in here, he waited for you and Zoro to get together and he made sure that you are well cared of before he even thought of leaving the Grand line. Kid, please don’t make him stay here! He needs to leave this place!”

Ben talked in such a tone that made Jane feel guilty, she put her elbows on the table, held her head in her hands, tugged on her hair a bit, Ben knew he was hurting her but……..

There was silence for few minutes…..Jane started speaking again……

“Ben………Wh…..What……….What if I want to come with yo…”

Ben again cut her off a little harshly,

“No, you have a life in here, your boyfriend, those brats, your job, your friends, your brother, you don’t need to leave any of them as of now. And anyways you still are one of us, you ought to come back for missions, and that was the deal when your brother wanted you to join him. You are one of Red Dragon’s before you ever was a hawkeye!”

Jane was sad, very sad thinking about Shanks leaving the place, leaving her, leaving for good. Ben was talking like Shanks would never come back, she closed her eyes in defeat as she stopped staring at the glass top of the table and she did not know what to think,

“I know you are sad and I had no say in what you say to Shanks, you are closer to him than he is to me or anybody else, he would gladly sacrifice everything, even his life for you. He stayed here for you even after it hurt to look at that bastard’s smug face day in and day out.” Said Ben finally looking at Jane and her sad face,

“I knew something was off! But Shanks! He keeps smiling always, that cheeky smile of his! God! He is been like this! He is not okay but I thought this will go away the way it has always had! Why the hell such a thing even happened? How the hell brother could hurt him so much? So much that he thought of leaving!”

“Kid, this thing between them, it just lasted for mere months, you left for the Rosolt islands and within week he was a wreck again. This time he is far too broken for me to bear.”

“I don’t know what to say Ben!”

“You had called that day remember? From Rosolt lands, you had called once because you had felt odd, you asked Shanks if everything was okay, he was with me that day. It started all on that day never to get better again and I feel miserable that I was reason!” said Ben in very awkward voice.

“Yes! He has become bitter towards Brother! I had never seen dad talk to him like that before this! I thought I could make him think differently, I thought I could change brother’s mind, he has changed a bit too but Shanks won’t talk to him at all. You are right, he is suffocating! I won’t ask him to stay!”  Whispered Jane finally looking away from Ben, she sounded so sad and miserable.

“Thank you Kid. I will soon find some mission for you! I know you are going to miss him! I am sorry kid!” said Ben and patted her head.

Jane nodded but did not reply to him.

“He is never going to muster enough courage to tell you that he wants to leave but I think you should go and speak to him! I hate this and I know it’s a lot to ask but I request you to break him free from here Jane…………..” Jane still looked away. Down at the table top but her eyes went wide, it was rare to hear him sounding like that but Jane was so shocked that Ben had asked her to do that, Ben still continued further.

He knew he was asking Jane to do which she never would have wanted, it was heartbreaking for her as it is.

“Tell him to go, tell him you know he wants to leave and tell him that you understand. Please!”

Jane was not the warrior, not a red dragon that defeated many brave men in battle, not a hawkeye who brought killer and thieves to justice, at this moment she was not the Jane who could bring people down on their knees; she was simple kid who did not want to leave her father’s side. She acted brave though, did not cry like a typical girl, did not change her expressions much but she could not stop the droplet of salty water that seeped out of the corner of her eye and felled on her own shirt.

“I will talk to him Ben! I …I….need to go now!” Jane survived to say that somehow and walked away from him, he sighed and went out if her place feeling sad that he had to do that to her………..

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro went to Jane’s new office after he was done with his work and he saw Ben going back to his office. Zoro called Jane but she did not pick up her phone. Zoro thought, she might have had gone to meet Shanks so he continued working in the office so as to wait for her call.

After an hour, Zoro called her again it was the same, she did not pick up her cell phone. Zoro got little worried, he went to her place but it was empty.

\----------------------------

Zoro’s cell phone beeped, he got relived thinking that it was Jane calling him back but he was surprised to see Shanks’ number flashing on his screen,

“Shanks?” asked Zoro answering the call,

“Kid! Is Jane with you?” asked Shanks casually and Zoro’s heartbeat raced in fear for his lover’s wellbeing,

“What! I thought she was at yours after Ben was done talking with her! Where the hell is she?”

“Ben? She was talking with Ben? Anyways, don’t worry, Iber would tell us where exactly she is, she is definitely inside the building. I just thought she was with you!” said Shanks but Zoro was worried that she might have had got panic attack the way she was pissed and the way she sounded before she went to meet Ben.

“Okay! Would you call me back when you find her?”

“Of course, wait!! On second thought, hold the line for a minute, I will tell you immediately!” said Shanks,

“Okay!”

Zoro waited for few minutes, he was making his way out from her apartment, he closed the door behind him and started walking in direction of the elevator to make it to Shanks’ place but,

“Zoro you still there?”

“Yeah! You found her?”

“She is at yours. Her keycard was swapped at the lock on your door an hour back! Would you tell her to give her old man a call?”

“Sure! Thanks Boss!”

“No problem, child!” said Shanks and hanged up.

Zoro went to his place and opened the door, the lights were off, one table lamp was switched on in that dim lit living room, he waited for his eyes to adjust to room’s low illumination and found Jane asleep on the couch, curled up into ball with pillow in her arms held close to her chest. It looked like she had been crying her eyes out but she was fast asleep when Zoro bent over to take a look at her face.

He sighed and moved his hand affectionately on her head. He bent down and put his hands under her form to pick her up and he carried her to the bedroom. Zoro gently put Jane on the bed and tucked her in the blanket. She changed her position in sleep and got curled up into a ball again. He sat there worried, he waited for few minutes, observing her for any sign of panic attack, but she was just asleep and not unconscious or in any kind of panic.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Jane!!!” was the soft voice that made feel Jane self-conscious in her slumber,

Jane felt herself being moved and soon she got enveloped in the warmth, it was that feeling she so much wanted when she was little.

Compassionate, devoted love; her face was caressed, she knew those unselfish tender touches, she had known them for a while now, that motherly love and affection she had been craving for all her childhood; those comforting hands, that warmth she had been seeking as child, those affectionate words she yarned for hearing her mother say to her .

“Jane?? Hey! Wake up baby!” was that voice again, the redolence she was so familiar with, her nostrils filled with the scent of the one she had owed her life to,

Jane opened her eyes slowly, she was not lying on bed but she was in two big and strong arms with her body rested on a muscular torso covered in white shirt, her face got gently tilted up with a finger under her chin and her eyes found the person that she so much wanted to avoid right now, she felt inundated looking into his warm brown eyes, she felt flooded with feeling dejection of what she was about to miss, she had been thinking about what Ben had asked her to do,

Jane was slumped over him, she did not speak nor did she move,

“What happened? You usually complain when your sleep is interrupted??” chided Shanks smiling at her,

Jane blinked her eyes looking at him, as if to make sleep go away, he liked when she did that,

“You up yet darling??” chided Shanks again,

“Dad, what you doing here? I thought I was at Zoro’s!!!” said Jane in sleepy voice,

“You are! The thing is I am too! He called me. He said last time he woke you up, you made his ears bleed yelling at him!!”

“Right!! Why did you wake me up anyways????” asked Jane in mock irritated voice,

“For dinner of course!!! Zoro invited me over for dinner. And as they say…food tastes better when you eat it together!!” said Shanks happily,

Jane’s eyelids dropped down again, she felt deluged in his soft centered warmth.  Ever since Jane became older enough to make sense out of her surroundings she had thirsted for her mother’s love. As a child, all she knew and recalled was a person she was supposed to call father, who used to hate her, loath her very existence, he used to spat in her face, beat her up to such an extent that made her ask for death. But since Shanks and Mihawk had found her and took her in, Shanks’ motherly instinct had struck in like a myth that never was answered and he had given Jane the all the love the child needed,

‘How you can sound so blithe when you are crestfallen inside? If only I could show him, if only brother could see like I do, how selfless and loving you are!! How could he do that to you? Why you had to love him in the first place?? I know he is cold but how the hell you did to make him doubt you like that Shanks?? And how the hell he could even think that a person like you could have cheated him with anybody else! Shit!! How much more messed up it can get?? I don’t want you to leave Shanks!! I love you!!’ thought Jane while she lay in his arms, looking into his big chestnut colored orbs.

“What you thinking honey?? You still feel sleepy? You okay?”

“Am I okay?? You are not Okay Shanks!!” whispered Jane and suddenly shot up to hug him, he furrowed his brows in worry but pulled her up to adjust her small frame on his lap.

He took her in embrace the way she liked and felt her grip on his clothes, she had hidden her face in his neck, they sat in there in silence and he held her for he had seen her nearly in tears.

Zoro had made it back to their bedroom to find Jane still looking sleepy, her eyes closed and her face sad and half of which was hidden in Shanks’ neck, she was hugging Shanks like that was the last time she would ever get to be with him like that. Zoro came walking over to them and gestured Shanks asking how was Jane feeling.

‘She is off!’ mouthed Shanks looking at Zoro, he sighed and nodded back,

After some silent movements,

“Why you said that Jane? Why wouldn’t I be okay?”  

“I know that you have given up on brother! I know you are here just for me!!” whispered Jane back and this was his time to raise his eyebrows,

“Just for you?? I am here only for you, I have always been, and don’t say it like that ‘just for you!’. You are the whole reason I am here since the very start! Nothing has changed!!”

“Why didn’t you adopt me?? Why am I not your daughter legally?” whispered Jane, Shanks eyes widen at that question, he was put off by that innocent question, he felt thrown off balance. Zoro noticed Shanks closing his eyes in sorrow as Shanks’ grip on Jane loosened and his hands dropped down,

Shanks had no answer to that question, he never thought it would matter when he had let Mihawk take care of the legal procedures all those years back, he had all but cared for Jane,

“I am at loss of words, love! I am sorry!”

“That is not the answer to my question, you are avoiding it!”

“Come, let us have dinner you guys!” exclaimed Zoro bouncing them back from their sorrowful state of minds,

“You cooked?” asked Jane whispering against Shanks’ neck,

“Chicken _Katsu_!” replied Shanks,

“With _udon_ noddle soup?” asked Jane whispering…

“And _Okonomiyaki_ too!” whispered Shanks.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jane and Zoro were cleaning the kitchen after the dinner; while Shanks had to attend a phone call from Yassap as something very important had come up.

Jane was helping Zoro with the dishes,

“Je, you gonna tell me what is going on? Or, I just have to ask you every time hun?”

“Zoro, I tell you everything okay! I just need to talk to him first! Get him to listen to me somehow! But he is not going to, he knows me too well to believe that I want him to leave!”

“What you mean ‘leave’?” asked Zoro arching his eyebrow up,

“Leave for the New World!”

She put the last plate in it’s place and dried her hands of the water, she passed the napkin to Zoro to do the same.

“Leave here? Leave you? You crazy??” asked Zoro in disbelief.

“Yes! I think I am!” said Jane in frustration massaging her temple.

“Why would you do that? Is it about him and Mihawk! Have they really that fallen apart?” asked Zoro getting confused, Jane sighed and shook her head at him.

He picked her up by waist and put her on kitchen counter as he stood between her legs, he made her look at him.

“Jane, why? How could you want him to leave! You can’t live without him, everybody knows that!”

“Because, Zoro, he is stifled in here! He is suffering!”

“Jane! He can handle himself, you don’t need to decide what’s best for him!” suggested Zoro but Jane noted Shanks’ presence as he came walking closer to the kitchen,

“Shanks needs to leave Zoro! And that’s that! I can see that he is not into this thing anymore!” said Jane closing her eyes in annoyance,

“Just sleep on it okay! Think about it once more before you make it any worse than it already is for him!” advised Zoro looking at his frustrated girlfriend with scowl plastered on his face,

“Zoro, Shanks had enough of the Grandline now, he needs the New world, it suits him more anyways! He’s always liked it at the Headquarters more! He belongs there not in here! It’s like bird in a cage! He is better off ..” Jane was talking but got interrupted….

“How can you say that?” came Shanks’ chastised voice, Jane cracked opened her eyes and Zoro turned back to find Shanks standing in the door,

“Shanks, like I said, you have to leave and you....” Jane said in tight voice furrowing her brows but

“Did Ben put you up to this?” Shanks sounded tired,

“Dad you listen to me!” exclaimed Jane restlessly,

“I know, only he can do it…….. but to ask such a thing of you? He should have known better! I ..” cussed Shanks,

“You sound like he said something wrong! You did think of leaving, didn’t you?”

Enquired Jane, furrowing her brows and sounding irritated, folding her hands over her chest, Zoro raised eyebrow at the tone of her voice,

‘What the hell is wrong Je?’ thought Zoro as he moved to capture her arm but she moved closer to Shanks and Zoro’s hand barely touched her,

“Tell me you didn’t!”

“Jane! What is it you want to say?”

“That you should not be forcing yourself into anything anymore! You are free to go!”

And that was Jane, unusually arrogant, Shanks sighed frustrated that Ben told Jane that thing,

“I was so pissed at that time and I just spoke it out of rage but I regretted saying it the next second! I did not mea..”

“Oh! But you can’t deny, you did think of leaving, even though for a fraction of second, you did! And you were right! If you have given up on him, you might as well leave his sister! You could………. actually……… when I think of it, If you really wanted you could have adopted me for real! You are wasting your time in here! You are better off on your own Shanks and with your army! You shoul….” Now Jae was just being bitter, but before Jane could finish Zoro jumped in,

“Jane!” chastised Zoro,

“Baby, I am not going anywhere! I am not leaving you alone!” said Shanks trying to sound calm but failing miserably as he furrowed his brows, Shanks was getting angry at his situation,

“I am not alone! I have him!” said Jane in cocky attitude as she pointed her thumb in Zoro’s direction, Zoro was a little taken back by her statement, his eyes widen a little in shock but.

“Jane! What the hell?” scolded Zoro in quite angry tone, feeling terrible for Shanks but Shanks’ eyes softened, his face was having mellow expressions. Zoro could not just accept Jane had said that to Shanks nor he could guess why Shanks was not shocked or angry at her,                                      

“You stay out of this Zoro!”

“Je! You shut up right now, you brat!” rebuked Zoro again, this time he put his hand on her shoulder squeezing it a little to signal her that he was pissed off now,

“Baby you don’t need to get into fight with me and with him or say any of these things to make your point!” Shanks gave Jane a sad smile, Jane did not reply but her eyes widen a little, Shanks managed an awkward smile before he turned to look away,

“I know what you are thinking and it’s not going to work Jane! Spend a little more time with your boyfriend and come home! I am visiting Whitebeard soon, before I meet him, I have to visit east blue first before I travel to the New world! Though I would be back for sure, it’s going to be longer this time that I would have to stay away from you! I want to be with you as much as I can before I leave!” said Shanks while he was walking out of the place,

When Shanks disappeared from her sight, Jane left the breath she had been holding in for long time, she felt wobbly from the emotional stress, she closed her eyes and felt herself off balance a little, soon she found a strong hand on her back supporting her frame,

“The fuck is wrong with me??? He saw right through it!” whisper yelled Jane with troubled voice,

“You frigging idiot! I just don’t believe you said that to him!” Zoro said as he came closer and put his hand around her waist.

“Shit! What do I do Zoro! I hurt him! I intentionally hurt him!”

“You only made him sadder! Pushing him away was not good idea!” replied Zoro little irritated,

“I can’t let him suffer for me! He has done enough. Really, I wanted him at peace, I wanted them to have healthy relationship.  Now that thing is weighing his mind down, he feels miserable. I just want him to go and try to have a better life. Zoro, I know leaving is gonna hurt him but staying is gonna hurt even more!”

“What are you saying baby? He doesn’t think like that. He wants to be around you, you shouldn’t have hurt him like that! He is never going to leave you!” said Zoro and Jane stopped talking, she thought for few moments about what he said and then sighed and spoke in low voice,

“Zoro, I don’t know what to think anymore! Though the plan can backfire  for all we know! I mean it can be hell lot of taxing for him. His leaving is going to make me and Mihawk rake with pain alright but I have you and Mihawk deserves being alone, but what about Shanks? Shanks would be all alone! Here, with at least me around, he shares his burden with me, he needs to be loved too you know! And I do love him a lot and I do help his condition just by being with him, somehow have always had, unknowingly! I never had to do anything but let him care for me and that is what he always needed! With him gone, there in the New World, with those people, he will either become bitterer or he will break himself down!”

“Then why you insist on him leaving?”

“Because Leaving is only thing he has left to make brother understand. That cold hearted brute!!” cussed Jane, her features tensed in anger mixed with worry. Zoro sighed and continued,

“We don’t know Mihawk’s side of the story yet and we may never be able to know. Shanks is a great guy and I think he won’t leave that easily. Baby, I am worried about you two!” Zoro said making her turn back to face him,

“Me too!”

“And just this evening you said it’s too quiet and smooth to be true…….”

“Zoro, I am a wartime creature, too suspicious of peaceful times to enjoy them!”

“If I know him the slightest, he has already forgiven you even before you argued with him. Go home now! He needs you!” said Zoro with furrowed brows and his deep voice unknowingly soothed her stressed mind. Zoro pulled her closer as his arms encircled her waist; he leaned in to take her lips in his. He gave her a gentle kiss and pulled out without deepening. Her eyes were closed and her face looked worried.

“I love you Zoro!” whispered Jane taking Zoro in hug,

“Love you Je! You need to go now!” whispered Zoro back.

“Yeah!!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Jane felt dejected at the thought of Shanks leaving but she felt regretful that she had intentionally hurt him like that,

When Jane made it to Shanks’, she knew where exactly to find him,

The bedroom door was slightly open, she put her palm on door but could not push it to open it all the way to enter, she knew Shanks was in there waiting for his daughter to come…..

Jane sighed at her forlorn condition,

“Jane? Come on! Get in!! Why are you standing there for?” came Shanks’ relaxed voice, as if nothing had happened, as laid back as he was there was not even ounce of melancholy,

“Dad!” whispered Jane sadly and made her way in, her head down, her eyes watery, vision blurry and heart heavy,

“No excuse Jane, go and brush your teeth before you get in the bed, go!” ordered Shanks as usual in his usual way of talking,

Next second, Jane broke into tears suddenly as she held her head in her hands, Shanks made a worried face as he got up to shush Jane but by the time he reached her,  her knees dropped on ground defeated,

“Baby! I am sorry! Hey! Don’t cry now!! You are not a kid anymore”

“No, I am sorry Dad, I promised! I promised myself that I wouldn’t hurt you and I did!” spoke Jane sniffling, her voice was hoarse.

Shanks made her stand up and supported her lean frame in his warm embrace, he lifted Jane off ground so that he would not have to bent down to keep hugging her and he then spoke calmly,

“No, you didn’t! I knew how hard that was on you. I knew how bad it must have felt! And I knew why you said all that! You did not hurt me baby! I can’t get hurt whatever you try to do!”

“ _Aishiteimasu……_ _Oyaaji! Onegai Todomarimasu!_ ” [Love you…..Dad! Please stay!] said Jane finally giving in to her inner desire…to  her fright, her weakness, Shanks…

“ _Watashi wa ikimasen!_ _Watashiwa anata ni watashi no kodomo  o aishi_!” [I am not going. I love you my child!] whispered Shanks finally flashing his genuine smile, it’s been a while he felt that, he felt loved……

“I was so ……..so lost in my life, lost in Zoro! I just left you alone!!”

“No, you did not leave me alone and moreover, I was the one who wanted you to have somebody like Zoro! So, don’t you say that! Nobody is happier than me that you finally got somebody who cares for you, who really loves you enough to make you smile and make you so engulfed in your life!”

“I feel horrible for what I did to you!” whispered Jane in sad voice in his arms,

“Yes you should, thinking you can make me go away like that! You are not getting rid of me that easily!!”

Shanks smirked mischievously,

“Shanks!!” exclaimed Jane panicked,

“So, you are sleeping with me?” Shanks cheeky smile was appearing on his face,

As sad and pitiful Jane felt, it took her a minute to understand that Shanks actually meant to joke……..

“Fucking pervert! You are at your limit you old man!” yelled Jane still sounding hoarse as she gritted her teeth at his cheeky smile, Shanks put her down and held her chin so as to make her look up at him,

“You still have to brush your teeth you know!” Shanks folded his hands on his chest and made bossy face,  

“You really are impossible!” whispered Jane rolling her eyes at his smirking face.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_One week later………._ **

At Jane’s new office,

“John! Why the hell I am still doing this bullshit! I mean how many fucking times do I have to tell these fucking brasses I don’t fucking like to push fucking papers!”

“Dude! Calm down a little! It’s been piling up as you refuse to do it daily I am asking you do it at least weekly! Geez!” complained John,

Jane’s phone beeped,

“Yeah!” said Jane picking up the call,

“…..”

“Okay, will be there in few!” said Jane and hanged up,

“You are not leaving!” scolded John,

“It’s Zoro! Gotta go John!” said Jane dismissing John, he sighed and collected the papers from her desk,

\------------------------

Jane entered in his apartment then their bedroom to find Zoro packing his stuff as if to go on a trip out of the town,

“So? What’s up big boy?”

“You are moving in with me!” said Zoro as he closed the case and zipped it close.

“Really? Then, why are you packing a bag?” asked Jane smirking as she sat on table top and leaned against the wall behind it,

“Jane, move in with me already!” said Zoro stubbornly, he made his way to his beautiful lover, he put his hands on the table on both sides of her frame and stood between her legs, he leaned in bringing his face closer to hers, 

“Zoro we are good like this, we live in same the building and I am at yours most of the times! There is no point in moving in..” Jane was trying to reason with him but,

“We used to be with each other during day time and then also after hours, we mostly spent time together except a few days when we could not; but now, I don’t get to see you much! Je! Move in with me.”

Jane did not reply but held his face in her hands and gave a quick peck on his lips,

“We are with each other Baby! There is no need to move in!”

“You just want me to beg, like you always make me work for everything?” Zoro closed his eyes tiredly,

“Hey! Its not like that! Okay! You move in with me then!” proposed Jane,

“You sure? I thought it we would be great in here! I mean it’s all yours in here too and we have been with each other, spending time in here since forever, this place has a connection to our bond! I feel it’s only right if you move in with me instead!”

“Okay! After you get back from wherever you are going now; I will move in with you!” said Jane caressing his face lovingly as she assured him with her words,

Zoro brought his hands around her waist and crushed her into his chest, she readily hugged him back,

“I am going with Luffy and others, Brook went missing, we are retrieving him back!”

“Brook went missing?”

“You don’t worry! I am going to take care of it! You have to go and help Law!”

“Yeah!” said Jane sighing,

“You sound dull!”

“Zoro, that Moria is pretty tough! You take care okay! I know Luffy would go all out even against Devil himself once her figures out if his friends are in danger! I ..”

Zoro sneaked his palm into her hair behind her head, he made her turn her neck to look into his eyes,

“I said don’t worry je! We have gotten stronger! ”

“Yes, you guys really have!”  said Jane slightly smiling at him,

Jane was hauled into a passionate kiss………..

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

****_Months after Shanks left the Grand line………_  
  


Shanks’ leaving was surprising and a little sad for Mihawk, he could not believe that Shanks had just took off, he knew he had to visit whitebeard and things were not going good in world’s politics, Shanks had a lot to handle and so did Mihawk. The wind of war was in the air, Mihawk had been handling his people, trying not to involve anybody in it. Shanks’ absence had taken it’s toll on Jane too.

Those, who had temporarily replaced Shanks, Yasaap, Roo and Ben, used to remind her of her beloved father all the more. She used to avoid conversation with new people, she kept it to her team. She trained her people, always tried to be out in the field if not with Zoro.

Zoro was now working along with Mihawk himself, he now was no more Jane’s lieutenant but was in the stealth unit, working independently of her. They now did not work with each other, they barely saw each other during the work schedule.

In fact Zoro had been away, to Thrillar bark, the Mugiwarah crew had been fighting Moria and his lot to rescue Brook and take revenge of Brook’s abduction there by reveling Moria’s treachery to world government, he was stripped of his rank and titles as Zoro and team beat the shit out of Moria’s bunch.

The whole team got injured badly in process of rescuing Brook and all captured members along with him, Moria got defeated but World government had deployed Kuma, the fellow War lord, to deal with the intruders before Moria’s dark secret was revealed. Kuma did number on them beating all of the injured people to pulp, most of them lost consciousness but Zoro had fended him off which the crew did not know how. Zoro was near death and Jane was informed about it but she was far too away; by the time she made it there Chopper did treat Zoro’s wounds and stabilized his health, When Jane actually got to see Zoro he was out of danger of death by bleeding wounds,

She had found out Sanji moping secretly, he was nearly in tears worried sick over Zoro, only Sanji knew how Zoro had managed to pull that off, Zoro had made Kuma leave the injured Luffy and the others alive, instead had taken on him all by himself and when Sanji had offered his help, Zoro had knocked him out cold.

They celebrated their victory while Zoro was still unconscious from his wounds, when Zoro finally opened his eyes and saw Jane right in front him, he had got goose bumps all over his body when she bent down to kiss him awake, she spent a little quality time with him and then left for the New World to meet up with Law again…

\-------------------------------------------------------

While Luffy and others were travelling back to the city they decided to visit the Sabaody archipelago to enjoy little time with their new friend Caime.

Zoro had decided to pay Jane a quick visit instead but when he made it to the building, Mihawk asked Zoro to discuss the Thriller bark incident with him.

Mihawk and Zoro had been discussing about this case, not many words got exchanged but Zoro now knew Mihawk’s ways of communication and to tell the truth Zoro also was man with few wise words himself so they suited each other just fine and Mihawk had always praised Zoro for his skills right from the start so it was easy for him to talk to Zoro.

Mihawk’s phone started ringing all of a sudden and he narrowed his eyes on the screen after he looked at it,

“That will be all Roronoa!” said Mihawk still looking at his cellphone with suspicious eyes,

“I will be leaving for Fishmen island then!” said Zoro getting up from his chair and

Mihawk gave a nod and Zoro walked away as he knew Mihawk so much wanted to answer that call in private.

Zoro left Mihawk’s office, went to his own, collected his things and went to his apartment only to find it empty. He was expecting Jane at home or at least her call by now. He sighed and called her but she did not answer his phone. Zoro immediately dialed John’s cellphone.

“John, Jane did not leave office yet?”

“Oh! Welcome Mr. Roronoa, how are you?” mocked John,

“Yeah! Yeah! Spare me that! Where is she?”

“She is in the training grounds, taking down the SOF’s!”

“What? Its past 8:30? She crazy? What are SOF’s doing here anyway?”

“Don’t know! They had got the passes for 8 but only 5 actually came.”

“Why?”

“Three were sent in the city somewhere to make some travelling arrangements! I don’t know much but I wonder; if no high ups from the Red Army are here, why and for whom the arrangements are for?”

“You keep updating me on this, okay! I am gonna go and see her!”

“I don’t work for you!”

“Shut the hell up! And call me when you get any update, got that John?” said Zoro trying to sound bossy like Jane did,

“Sure thing Jane!” chided John, that brought a cute pink tinge on Zoro’s tan face,

“Asshole!” cursed Zoro with pink cheeks and hanged up.

\-------------

Jane was locked in an unarmed hand to hand combat with four of the Special operations Forces members of the Red Army. There were people watching them fight. Teenagers, the new recruits and one’s still in training had eyes fixed on them with their jaws hanging open and some of them occasionally moving their fist in natural response as they took in what she wanted them to see, while others who knew Jane and her abilities were seated back and were watching her fight with slight smile on their faces as they try to predicted her every single move and were betting on it as she fought.

Zoro made it there and stood looking at her enraged form, she was on fire, taking on four of them was no joke but she was being lethal more than necessary, they could hardly keep her at bay from injuring them seriously.

“I told you not to call her out, didn’t I?” yelled Eustass from the crowd.

“You need to listen to us!”

The guy whom Jane was choking under her knee yelled with muffled voice,

Jane’s grip on other man’s throat tightened in response and the one was recovering from the shot Jane gave him in the stomach was deciding how to make her leave his friends, fourth one was sprawled on ground held by her hand on his throat and his nose was bleeding and he was gritting his teeth as he struggled against her grip, he was spraying blood all over the arena.

“How could you let Shanks go there unguarded you cunts!” whispered Jane in rage,

“Jane, listen to me, it’s important, we need to talk ..” said the same guy,

“Captain, let us talk somewhere in private!” requested another guy as she left his throat,

“Make me!”

“J ---Jane!” he tried to shout but his words were choked further. He instinctively grabbed her hand tried to move it away from his throat as he could no longer see, his vision was turning blurry from lack of oxygen, he took out knife and waved it in her direction, Jane let go of grip and took his hand and locked it behind his back making him let go of knife and he started coughing and breathing. She let go of him and knocked second one out and kicked in the shin guy the third guy who had taken his knife out. He cringed a little and tried to get away from her to take up his fighting position again.

The guy whom she had choked under her arm had also succeeded in breaking free from her. The fight continued till another guy got injured badly and started bleeding too. Zoro could not see her beating shit out of them and she had injured her hands too. He came walking to the fighting area and was about to step in but they saw a guy who had not been fighting but just was standing all along was getting in the ring.

“Jane! It’s about the Fire-fist!” yelled the man, Jane stopped the fist which was about to connect to jaw of man whose neck was pinned to ground under her knee.

She looked back at the man who yelled it and got up, leaving poor beaten up guy alone, she walked closer to him, grabbed him by his jacket.

“The hell you just said?”

“Look, I don’t know how you don’t know it yet but First division commander of Whitebeard’s army, fire fist Ace is in danger and we all came all the way out here to inform you that, we need to talk, somewhere privet, now Captain, would please you let us talk!” whispered the man narrowing his eyes on her. Jane left him and calmed down a little still kept eyeing him suspiciously,

“This better be worth my time, Mark!”

Jane’s warning was no ordinary threat he knew it,

“I know, just hear us out once!”

“Get your men in order and follow me!” said Jane unrolling her shirt off her arms.

“Yes sir!” said Mark and went to his unconscious fellow soldiers.

“Okay People! Enough fun for today! I guess I put up a good show!” yelled Jane dusting her jacket.

There were cheers and whistles, she shook her head snorting slightly.

“Go back to what you were doing ladies!”

“When you actually going to train us then?” asked a guy, who was on record the youngest Hawkeye ever recruited, even younger than Jane was when she joined up with Hawkeye group.

“When you grow some beard kid!” mocked Jane and other new recruits started laughing with their hands on their stomachs,

“What the hell are you laughing at? I would rather train him than you old pricks who could not even make the test in 5 minutes; this pretty boy here has broken all records!” said Jane jumping down from the arena and now standing in between them, they scooted a little back and now Jane was surrounded by all new recruits in a circle.

“Yeah?” asked one with raised eyebrow,

“How much for him?” asked another.

“3.9” said Jane.

There were surprised exclamation and they all patted his back.

“We will start as soon as you complete the basic training, okay? Be prepared or you are gonna bleed! Scoot now! Get off my face! Scram!!” dismissed Jane and they went away giving her a quick salute.

“Jane!” exclaimed Zoro grabbing her attention. Jane looked at the clock on her wrist and sighed tiredly,

“Zoro! You are here already? I am late, aint I?” exclaimed Jane shot up eyebrows,

“Hey!” exclaimed Zoro again to make her look at him as he came walking closer to her,

“I am sorry baby!” said Jane smiling tiredly, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her,

‘You want to kiss me…..Like this? In the middle of training grounds..? Really?’ Astonished due to the lovely surprise Zoro’s eyes slightly widened at the thought but he let her do as she pleased and leaned in to kiss her.

Her other hand moved in his direction and curled into his short cropped green hair, surprisingly smooth in spite of the spiky look, she fisted his hair at back of his head and smashed his lips on hers. His hand found the curve of her waist as his other hand went to back of her head. Everything just stopped, everybody was looking at them with eyes wide open and some of them swallowed thickly looking at Jane pulling him like that. Jane’s lips mate his in a lovely kiss, their eyes fluttered closed at the satisfaction of feel of the kiss.

A reciprocated kiss in middle of public place was a new thing for Zoro and so it was for all of the others present there. Whole of the building actually knew by now that Zoro loved her, it was not hard to guess for one who saw him talking to her or looking at them for once, but showing public affection like that was actually quite rare for Jane.

They pulled out without deepening the kiss.

“Umm…I actually thought you were pissed at something…….the way you were beating them to pulp” Zoro said still a little rattled and surprised by her sudden attack of love, she left his hair and removed her other hand of his shirt,

“I am sorry Zoro, if you didn’t want it to be public, I did it becau..” said Jane sounding uneasy as she busied herself fixing his already neat tie, Zoro took his hand away from back of her head and touched her chin for a split second before he realized that he couldn’t do that in here, she looked at him as he pulled away,

“Hey! I loved it, I don’t need a reason, I love you!” whispered Zoro as his hand lingered on her waist a little before he let go of her completely,

“It’s been a while!” said Zoro and took a deep breath looking at her face lovingly,

“Yeah it is!” Jane nodded quickly and raised her eyebrow at the quiet surroundings and threw a glare looking back over her shoulder,

People quietly scooted away and everything went back to normal.

“So! You still busy?”

“Just some more minutes! I want to know what these clowns have to say. Then I am all yours! Okay?”

“Yeah! I will wait right here, outside in the balcony?”

“No, I am taking them to my office, I will come over at yours after that!”

“Rush a little for me, will ya!!” flirted Zoro and Jane took his hand and squeezed it a bit as she spoke,

“Oh! Waiting only makes you that much hungrier!!” flirted Jane back smirking and winking at Zoro which made Zoro feel butterflies in his stomach.

“So you are hungry? But only I am available today!”

Zoro gave her a cocky grin,

“Will do sexy! I will be back a flash!” said Jane turning away from him after giving him smoky eyes,

Zoro grabbed her hand and made her halt in her tracks and moved a little to talk in her ear, he brought his lips near her ear and nosed in to her hair as he whispered huskily,

“Aint got no time babe! Please hurry! I am leaving tonight only and before that I need you…I need you so badly, I can’t wait no more! I missed you so much!! It’s really been long, 15 days and 19 hours!” her cheeks pinked at his direct demand like that, the way he said that it thrilled her bones, heated her skin,

“Down to the hour hun??” asked Jane going beet red,

“You have no idea!” said Zoro huskily, sneaking his arm around her waist,

“You do know that I missed you too Zoro right?  And I want you too! I promise I won’t make you wait for long!” said Jane blushing a little as she tried to suppress the shyness by gritting her teeth, Zoro smiled at her blush, it had been a while he had seen her blush like that now that she had got closer to him, she did not blush much…..

Zoro smiled as he took his arm away and walked out if there…..

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**_In Jane’s Office…._ **

 

“Seriously Captain, you don’t know anything?” asked a guy, he was given iced water to drink. Blood spread in the water staining it red.

“Did I break your teeth Takeshi?” asked Jane offering her friends, her fellow soldiers, some whiskey.

“No, I am okay!” said the guy, Takeshi,

“You absolutely know Nothing Capt? How” asked another guy named Rick.

“I don’t know shit Ricky!” Jane seeped from her whiskey.

“Ace is in danger Captain!” Takeshi continued,

“Yeah! He is been spotted in enemy territory without authorization, he also reported to be engaged into fight with their people without reason. Whitebeard had taken responsibility but they found no com devices on him so he was held responsible alone!” informed Paul,

“For what?” Jane narrowed her eyes, as she left her whisky glass on table top and folded her hands on her chest,

“For killing, killing when it was not necessary, killing the innocent as they say!” said Rick.

“Innocent my ass! They were black cats! Blackbeard’s men!” spat Paul, Jane’s patience was wearing thin, and there was deep scowl on her face and lips turned down in frown,

“He was all alone and near death when he was delivered to World Government!” said another guy named Henry,

“Delivered? He is not some fucking package of some good, you talk like he…. he is some dog!” asked Jane gritting her teeth and clenching her fists,

“Sorry! That was the term they used! That Black fucking beard has been made a warlord!” added Paul with irritation in his voice,

“Sir Mihawk must have been notified by now!” informed Rick,

“Fuck!” cussed Jane,

“And that is why Shanks wouldn’t let us leave! Would not let us come to you.” that was reply from Mark again,

“Did he went there to see Whitebeard for the same reason?” asked Jane as her hand went to her head to massage her temple,

“Yes! We did not even know anything about it at that time!” Henry added,

“Shit! They kept me in the dark!” Jane was beyond angry knowing her brother kept her out of the loop,

“Ace has been decided to put to death by world Government. He was captured by Marshall D. Teach. Aka Blackbeared!” Takeshi continued,

“Like hell they did!” yelled Jane getting pissed off,

“Jane! We need to hurry!” Mark put away the glass full of whiskey as he stood up from his chair,

“What you mean by captured? He is not some gangster or rookie mafia!”

“Captain! He is held in World’s most secure prison! An underwater Sea prison protected with military HQ vice admirals!” Takeshi had done his home work perfectly, the good researcher he was, Jane always relied on him,

“Shit!! The Impel Down??” asked Jane panicked over situation her brother was in,

“Exactly!” was Rick’s reply after a tired sigh from Mark,

“So? What’s the plan Captain?” for years, Mark had wanted Jane to march with all her army against the world government,

“No plan! Go back to HQ right now!”

“Captain??” was enraged and confused exclaim from all the men,

“I am going alone and you shitheads are heading back to your company!” rebuked Jane furrowing her brows in deep scowl,

“Captain!! You are not going alone in there! We have always been together for every mission!” said Mark,

“We are called the death-dealers for God’s sake, we never back down! We have done the impossible because we always stick together, you have to take us with you!” said Rick stubbornly,

“I always knew that I would take you out or at least take some of you to safety somehow. I knew it before we even went in there, this time, I am going to sacrifice the world for him, I can’t promise you a ride back home!”

“We can find our own ride back home!” Takeshi’s reply was spontaneous and all others nodded to it,

“Yeah! We are coming with you no matter what, so tell us what is plan?” asked Mark,

“Sneaking in won’t do! They strip down everybody down to the skin, they would recognize us!” said Rick,

“Yeah! Invading in with just some of us is not wise either!”

“Then we get caught!”

“We are helping whitebeard! That guy really acts like his father and I know how is to feel when you have a foster parent like that! Whitebeard is going to give it all and we are helping him!”

“Seriously? He is our enemy!!”

“He is Ace’s father as of now!”

“I will make the arrangements, Captain we will wait for you at usual place! We are moving at the dawn, 0400 hours!” said Mark and they saluted Jane, Jane nodded and walked away from them.

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Jane went to Zoro’s, she did not bother calling him before getting in as it was long past the time they used to tell each other, or to knock the doors before they enter …..

There was smoke, she smelled smoke and light,

“Holy Shit! Zoro?? What the hell? Hey, you okay babe!!” exclaimed Jane worried as she ran to the dinning,

“Could you hold this for a sec!” said Zoro with troubled face and embarrassed voice offering Jane a box of cake and a big empty box, which Jane’s figured, had held something real heavy not long ago…

“No you hold that thing and keep this in your hand, I will handle the rest!” said Jane handing him over the bottle of Scotch, Jane’s favorite one.

Jane quickly found the fire extinguisher and took care of the fire in the dinning, she inspected Zoro for burns, Jane put the burnt and damaged things in a pile while he put things in his hands down on floor and settled the bottle on ground shutting close the cork.

Jane went to him and ruffled his hair, ashes puffed off his head mixing with the wind a little,

“You hair looks funny big guy!” said Jane pinching his firm cheeks, he looked irritated,

“Yeah? Funnier than they already are??” said Zoro irritated obviously, Jane unbuttoned his blackened shirt and threw it away, he was sweating, his torso looked delicious,

“They are special not funny! And I can’t imagine you without that green Colour! I don’t even know if I would have liked them if they weren’t green!” Jane said making a thoughtful face.

Zoro sighed and sat on the chair which was not damaged in the fire,

“Okay my handsome hunk, what’s up with you?” asked Jane making herself comfortable on his lap,

“Nothing much than today being not my day!” said Zoro and closed his eyes,

“Hey! What happened? You were so excited and happy just half an hour back!”

“You are not going to ask me about the fire??”

“I don’t care! All that matters is you are okay! These things can be repaired or brought again! What would I do if something happens to you!” said Jane taking his face in her hands and Zoro sighed in defeat again,

“Don’t do that Babe!! Why are you sighing like that!” said Jane leaning in so as to kiss him and change his mood a little but she heard a small growl……..

‘What???’

Jane stopped and blinked at him, then turned her neck to find a puppy, gray, white…an Siberian Husky..

“Really?” exclaimed Jane and hopped off his lap and ran after the puppy to find another two toddling around, playing together, she found her favorite scotch bottle near them, they were attacking it with their little paws...

“Come here you three!” ordered Jane, it was just dream to have three of them, they reminded her of ‘Rudy’, the dog Shanks had when she was 14, she loved him…

“Cool! Your name is Ulf, you are Roxy and you little fella are Max!!” yelled Jane grabbing two of them at a time, they growled but got adjusted to her voice and her feel immediately, last one was running and encircling her like it was with her right from the start,

“Named them already??” asked Zoro raising an eyebrow as he leaned on the door frame with his hands folded over his torso,

“Absolutely! Zoro you are so damn amazing! I love you! You are coolest boyfriend any girl could ever have and..”

“And I had so much trouble with them, they almost set our place on fire!” completed Zoro breaking in Jane’s sentence in the middle and Jane burst out laughing…

“Seriously Je! Don’t laugh like that, I am a terrible boyfriend!” said Zoro bitterly, frowning until Jane got up and kissed him,

“Terrible Boyfriend!”

“Shut up! Don’t dare you speak something like that about my boyfriend!!” scolded Jane playfully after she pulled out,

“I was trying to be romantic, but Romance just hates me! I just wanted to have some candles, your scotch and these puppies! But I messed up and you had to catch me with my pants down hun?” commented Zoro trying to sound nonchalant but his scowl gave it all away,

“I wish I could catch you like that, grumpy pants!!” said Jane pinching his cheeks, he took her hands off his face and looked at her seriously with expectant eyes,

“Je! I love you!” said Zoro putting a curled finger under her chin,

“I know Baby!” said Jane smiling sweetly but the three new little friends of Jane grabbed their attention, Zoro sighed looking at them,

“Come on Zoro that’s a perfect gift! Can’t you see how happy I am? And you are romantic all right! We don’t need candles and stuff to be romantic with each other, though I have to admit it would have felt really awesome! Like they show in movies hun?”

“Yeah? I am glad I could bring them here! But it was all John! He arranged everything, I just told him what I wanted!”

“Obviously! Don’t worry about that! Come here” said Jane and pulled Zoro in a hug. Zoro hauled her up as he lifted her off her feet,

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

 

His scent scented her skin, his taste on her lips, feel of his strong calloused hands on her skin, everywhere on her body, they caressed her, like he worshiped her. She felt herself drowned in his love, the way his lips travelled from her collarbone to her chin, the way her nibbled the soft mass of her earlobe, the way her he held her waist, the way he played with her hair, it was driving her nuts.

“Z…..haaah…Zoro….aaaah…!” moaned Jane panting,

“Je! I love you!”

“Love you too baby!” said Jane and she got kissed passionately, he moved inside her again, drawing lovely moans from her,

her hands held above her head with his hands in them, their finger laced together, Zoro on top of her, their legs entangled, groins connected, chests heaving, bodies sweating, 

“You are…different today!” said Zoro panting from his orgasm,

“Different?......D....Different….. how?”

“Usually we last for what three rounds? It was our fourth and I still feel you wet and welcoming down there, I don’t even feel the need to pull out! I can go on….. whole night, you up for it?”

“Didn’t I promise you I am all yours?”

“You did! So, you are not getting any sleep tonight!”

“It’s fine but I do need to pee!! You have to leave me for a minute for that at least??” mocked Jane winking, Zoro brushed his lips on hers,

“I don’t think you can pee while I am inside you, so, can’t allow you to leave the bed!” said Zoro and started kissing her again…….

\------------------------------------------------------

Zoro was putting on his shorts, he looked at Jane’s worn out form, She had curled up into ball, her ass was wet so was her thighs and her womanhood was still leaking of his juices, she looked tired and sleepy, she had got thinner since Shanks left. Zoro had noticed that but could not get Jane to admit the fact or to make her take care of herself, Zoro bent backwards, rested his elbow on bed and put a hand on her back, Jane had her eyes closed but hummed when she felt his hand on her back,

“Hey! You okay babe??” asked Zoro worried as usual,

“Yeah! I am just tired! That is obvious after what we did? You don’t need to ask me every time we do it!” huffed Jane,

“Okay! Okay! Don’t say ‘we do it’, we make love!” said Zoro quickly,

“Yeah! Whatever lover boy!”

“You hungry?? Thirsty?? Want some beer?”

“I could use some whiskey Zoro! And a smoke may be!!”

“Don’t smoke babe, I hate it!”

“Okay! Whiskey it is!”

“Why you have to have this big of place Jane? I can’t find bloody kitchen in here!”

“Sorry hon! We could have stayed at yours but we need to fix it before we do, wait I will set the table for today!”

“Nah! I will do it!”

“Wait, I will..”

“Hey! You do rest, I will come back and get you cleaned up!” said Zoro looking at her wet groin, Jane nodded at him,

“I messed up the bedsheet!”

“Don’t worry about it!”

“I will be back in few, do rest till then!” said Zoro stubbornly and kissed her chin,

“Okay!” said Jane nodding a little,

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane was slumped over her hunky boyfriend, Zoro had firmly but gently secured her frame in his lap, her head was rested against his shoulder, her hands hung loosely, Zoro was playing with her fingers, lacing them into his, Jane smiled at his thumb caressing her almost healed recent wound,

Zoro did not complain for her wounds like Lucci did, Lucci used to get mad at her and used to give her silent treatment sometimes, Jane could not understand, Lucci did all the complaining regarding her battle wounds and her carelessness when she fought enemies, but at the same time Lucci was okay creating new wound, or sometimes abusive marks on her body while they had gotten intimate, he never seemed in control of his mind when he ravished Jane with his teeth.

But Zoro, he never gave Jane hard time about her fighting methods, he took care of her wounds, he did not flip out on her but got worried instead, he just gave her a kiss on it begging her to stop acting carelessly,

“Didn’t you say that you had to leave tonight? Its almost 12!” said Jane closing her eyes,

“Postponed it! I want to be with you for some more! Luffy and others are looking for some old mechanic dude anyways! We have time before we leave for fishmen island and there is no better disguise than to be with bunch of weirdoes goofing off, travelling around the globe just for sake of adventure, so I am waiting for them to find either that mechanic or find some trouble like they always do!” said Zoro seeping his whiskey,

“Hmm. Thanks!!”

“You kidding me! After having such a wonderful time, you think I had left any will to go, far from you!”

“I wish we could be like this with each other at all the times!” whispered Jane,

“What’s stopping us? We ARE together Je! Aren’t we?”

“Of course we are! I am saying, literally with each other, like… have a normal life, buy a small place of our own, have coffee every morning together, every bath together, have each meal together, have a nice walk in a park in the evening….” Whispered Jane but stopped when she felt Zoro’s lips on her cheek, Jane sighed tiredly, Zoro put the glass on the table and put his both hands around her as he whispered,

“You don’t know how much I would like that. Jane, when we met first, I saw you, got mad about you, did everything to find everything I could about you. I thought that I won’t fit in your world, I was so upset that I was so out of place, but the way you said that, it would be dream come true, Je! I can make it happen if you really want that!”

Jane sobbed mildly,

“I can’t want it Zoro!” said Jane making pained face,

“What does that even mean?”

“Nothing!”

“You just say it and I will do it!! I promise you, I really can make it happen if you really want to have a life like that!”

“I can’t, we can’t just leave everything and everyone else behind. I really wish I could have met you sooner Zoro!” whispered Jane and moved to hug him,

“You need to tell me what’s going on with you baby!” asked Zoro wrapping arms around her,

“It’s nothing, I sometimes miss having a family. Zoro, I have nobody but you and Shanks, and he is not here!” said Jane quickly and hid her face in his neck, that being her favorite action when she used to get sentimental she wanted to hide her face,

“I know you miss him so much.  You have so many people, you can’t even keep count! Just start looking, it’s not just me and Shanks babe, Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Mihawk, Law, Kid, Vivi, all of the migiwara’s, Iceberg, Smoker, Tashigi, and I can just go on and on..”

“It’s not a family, you don’t understand!”

“Then make me understand, just let me in there!”

“I don’t want anybody to die!”

“Where did that come from now? And nobody is dying! You do one thing for me baby? Go and visit Shanks! Please? I would take you if I could, I can’t go in there or I would have. You just go and see him okay?”

“I would have to I guess!”

“So? You sorted things out with the SOF’s?”

“I am tagging along with them, we are leaving at the dawn!”

“Really? Why didn’t you tell me that, now look how worn out you are!! Idiot! You are no good for fighting now! Not at least for some more hours of rest!”

“I wanted you so much!”

“I wanted you too baby, but you should be more careful with that. Why you have to make me worry hun?”

“Don’t worry then, not like I am going to kill myself now, will I? And besides, who are you going to worry about if not for me?”

“Smart ass!” said Zoro grabbing her ass cheek,

“Don’t, don’t tease there! Don’t, Zoro!” protested Jane,

“It hurts that bad?” asked Zoro immediately pulling out,

“No, does not hurt! Just can’t handle excitement now!”

“Oh!!” said Zoro mischievously and captured her lips in a kiss,

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane could not help but feel so contained and loved, warm and even breathing against her skin, strong and calmly beating heart right next to hers, low deep voiced snores of her lover soothing her troubled mind,

‘I would have never known, Zoro! This much love and affection! I am just possessed by it! I had no idea someone like you could exist for person like me! Shanks always had believed in the concept of soul mate, I did nothing but laughed it off, I thought it was just some crap people made up to keep their hopes alive. But you came along like a miracle, changed my life all together like it was always meant to be with you in it, like I was meant to be with you right from the beginning! I don’t know what to do now; I am scared to death that I would miss you even after I am dead. Baby, I am going on a one way trip to the hell, I don’t think I am going to make it back this time! Hope you would forgive me Zoro! You are such a great guy, I wish I could have spent some more time with you!’ thought Jane as she stroked his back.   

Jane could not sleep, even when held close by the love of her life, even though the embrace was warm and safe, even when Zoro stayed with her for more time she felt unsatisfied for she knew it could be her last time in his embrace, enjoying his presence so close to her, she knew she may never comeback from where she was heading to,   

Zoro had his face in the crook of her neck, his hands wound around her form in a firm grip, his legs tangled in hers, her hands around his neck, her palm was on back of his head.

Alarm went off stirring Zoro’s peaceful slumber, Jane stretched her other arm and turned alarm off.

“Zoro! I need to go now! Let go honey!” whispered Jane caressing his head,

“Don’t go anywhere today!” mumbled Zoro and pulled her even closer as his grip got tighter, he moved to stuff his face in her bosom now,

“I have to go baby!”

“Stay with me!”

“I am sorry that I have to leave!” whispered her again,

“No! You are not going anywhere!”

“Don’t be so stubborn, let go now! Don’t make me leave like this. Please??” asked Jane almost sounding sad, Zoro pulled away from her and looked at her face sleepily, his eye barely could stay open,

Jane was serious and she looked sad, Zoro sat up screwing his fist in his eye, yawning himself to tears, her brushed his knuckles on her jaw line as he spoke,

“You call me thrice every day, you call me after you complete your mission, you take good care of your health for me, you don’t take any unnecessary risks and you don’t lose your sanity in the rage!” said Zoro sounding serious as usual,

“Yes Boss! I promise!” said Jane slightly nodding at him,

“I love you Je!”

“I love you Zoro, I love you so much. You go back to sleep now! Come!” said Jane and leaned in. She kissed him goodbye, made him sleep in again as she tucked him in blanket before she climbed off her bed.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next morning Zoro joined with Luffy and others on the Sabaody archipelago, he found about the Caimei’s abduction, they searched the whole place, separating into several groups, finally getting some help from local authorities they found a lead which took them to a place where they found out what none of them had stomach to witness.

\--------

“So you guys found her right?”

“We did, we saved Caimei, I don’t believe they still trade slaves like that. Now we just are avoiding the government officials and we are set to leave for Fishmen island”

“Good, I called to tell that we won’t be able to talk regularly now ! Like ..I won’t be able to call…..for a while! I am gonna get busy. Okay?” said Jane sounding different than her usual self, Zoro knew that something was off since the day she had left the Grandline the other day at the daybreak,

“Why? You can surely spare 5 minutes! You can call…..its just to inform me that you are okay!” insisted Zoro,

“I am okay! Don’t you know how strong I am?” asked Jane playfully,

“Baby, where are you?” asked Zoro suspiciously,

“Why?” asked Jane sounding childish,

“Tell me where are you? Right now!” chastised Zoro, He heard her sigh tiredly,

“I am sorry! I am doing something that you are not going to like!”

“Jane, just talk to me okay!” scolded Zoro,

“I am going dark, I have to, we are spying on an important person that’s it and that too we are in behind the enemy lines!” Jane tried to lie but Zoro caught her,

“No, you are not! Now tell me. Where?” asked Zoro stubbornly,

“In the new world, don’t worry okay!”

“Where??” Zoro sounded frustrated, Jane sighed again,

“I am at the World Government headquarters, Marine ford!” whispered Jane finally giving in her boyfriend’s worry,

“What are you doing baby?? Why go there??” asked Zoro worried,

“Something important came up! Look, don’t tell anybody about it, it’s only between you and me! I am okay, really!” said Jane little quickly,

“You don’t sound okay to me!” said Zoro raising an eyebrow,

“I am! I am! I am just hungry!!” said Jane whining like Luffy, Zoro sighed and decided to let that go,

“Okay! So, when will you call me now?”

“It’s gonna be a while baby. I miss you already.”

“Why are you saying that?” asked Zoro with doubt at the back of his mind,

“I love you Zoro! I have to go now!” said Jane in a low voice,

“I love you baby! You do take care okay?”  said Zoro after he sighed.

“Yeah! Bye!” said Jane and hanged up, Jane felt sad, she just wanted to keep talking, keep listening to Zoro’s voice but nobody knew what she was up to and in what dangerous situation she was in,

“Now! Hand it over sweetheart!” was the deep husky voice,

“Thank you for letting me make one call!”

“Oh! And I thought you would call Mihawk, your brother! Does he really not know you came here to visit me?”

“No, he does not!”

Jane gave her phone to HIS manager which took her phone and went out of the room shutting the door behind his back. The man looked manipulative and vicious, he eyed Jane. His eyes, his vision travelled menacingly all over her body which made her blood boil but she kept mum, she had a plan and she had another to back it up. Jane so much wanted to glare at him and kick him in his balls but she kept patience,

They were called the Celestial Dragons, high-living high born noblemen, superior beings, considering themselves like Gods of ordinary people. They treated other humans like trash, like humans in other countries were mere things to please themselves with, Jane was presented before him in chains and shackles, belt around her neck like a dog, like she was some prisoner, he thought he could have had her way with her if he wanted.

“I can only imagine how must have it felt, convincing your boyfriend that you are safe! Well, you are, till you do as I say! I have heard a lot about you! From Kuzan, he thinks very highly of you, never would have thought you could try to move heaven and hell for saving such a scum! Who that Ace Portgas is to you?” asked the man,

The man was tall, fair, copper blonde hair, hazel eyes, glasses enhancing his sincere look, well maintained hair worn in great hairstyle suited him just fine. He wore a black suit, white shirt with golden buttons on it, he had a wine glass in his hand, he got up and walked over to the blonde beauty in shackles, he leaned in to take her scent in and pulled back when he felt her draw back, 

“He is important to me sir! I just need the codes!” said Jane closing he eyes, when she felt his hand moving up to touch her hair,

“So, what can you do for me in return?” asked charming government officer withdrawing his hand back without touching her hair,

“Whatever you want me to do! I am good at fighting, killing, I kick, I box, I shoot, I slice, I am a perfect killing machine! You offer me name and it would disappear from the world for ever. You tell me anything I would do it, just pass on the codes in return as decided!”

“A Killing machine you say! True indeed! I have heard about your abilities to fight! What about other than that? I am amazed how a beautiful girl like you can do so much fighting? Didn’t you feel uncomfortable to reveal your true identity to me?” asked him as he stood behind her back now eyeing her from there as if judging her,

“I am sure that you could help me! I am very obliged to meet you in person sir!” Jane knew that if she needed to make it alive out of that place she couldn’t just kill this man, he was too much important to the top brasses,

“Very well put, I am pleased to meet you indeed! How about I offer you something else than the codes if you agree something in return? I just don’t like all the bloodbath you see, not at all when person of my interest is involved in it.”

“That depends on what I can do and what I am offered Sir!”

“Wise little fairy, aren’t you! You see my dear, there is very difficult to find somebody like you.  You figured out how to reach to me, you figured out who can provide what you were looking for and you also knew that we were watching you. Clever, Smart, wise, agile and tough. I can create an escape route for your man, Portgas D. Ace if you stay here with me for the rest of your life!”

Jane’s eyes widen at his proposal, she blinked at his smirking face,

“Don’t take it otherwise, you are definitely one of those at whom, I can say, only the first sight is sufficient. Its not like that in OUR case, Lucci was assigned to you because I knew he wouldn’t get emotionally attached to you and I could get all I wanted because of him. You do remember your old man do you? What I mean to say is, I tracked you down for killing you but I fell in love with you instead. I can help him escape for sure. You can accept the proposal when you are assured about the arrangements I have done, but till then you have to stay in here, at my facility.”

Jane still did not speak, she was thinking about her back up plan,

“What is it? Don’t you trust me? I am gonna make sure you are well taken care of darling! Just accept my proposal and I am going to make you world’s happiest woman!” said the man and bent down,

his hands moved up to grab her chin, Jane could see him getting closer, her eyes narrowed on his face, she gritted her teeth and bent her knee a little, bent backwards at an uncomfortable angle to free her hand, she was so fast that he could not guess what Jane was up to, she freed her hand and jabbed him in solar plexus, he was out cold on floor in next second. Jane took a kitchen knife lying around the coffee table and fried her bonds.

Jane searched his place, she looked in every drawer, every closed box, she was going through some stuff when there was a knock on the door,

“Excuse me sir?” asked the man outside the door,

Jane managed to grab the tall man by hands and she dragged him to his bedroom, she threw him in the bed and climbed on herself, she went under covers and covered him as well, to make it look like he was in bed with her,

When the manager came searching for his master, he knocked on the door gently but heard Jane moaning, he smirked and apologised, 

“I am extremely sorry for intrusion, I will come back later sir!” said the guy and walked away,

“Fucking creepy manager!” cussed Jane and tied the man’s legs to his own bed,

After half hour of searching, Jane finally found a safe, she managed to open it, there was his laptop and some thumb drives, she opened it and inserted a thumb drive she had hidden in her shoes, it did something and the laptop unlocked, Jane went through files, she copied data what she thought was relevant. 

She had to think about the escape from his facility now, she had knocked him out, she never wanted to do that but she could not let him touch her, she just loathed these kinds of men the most. Though it would have cost her conscious a lot, Jane had offered the Man a kill but he wanted a fuck instead!

‘What the hell do I do now!’ thought Jane,

All she had to do is to hand over the codes to Marco as planned and they could make it to the marine ford, inside it along with their troops to fight back Ace’s public execution. All they needed was a passage, however small one, but they did.

Only Jane could reach the Marine ford without being questioned much, she was conned to Mihawk and thus could access World government’s facilities. Jane was smart enough to figure out whom to pursue or codes but her buddies in death were a little away for now, preparing a backup plan to strike if Jane would not make it out soon.

Jane could not communicate with outside world while in that government officer’s place anyway, not with any regular communication device. Jane searched for an opening, a route that she could use to get out of that crappy place,  

She went to the bedroom again, the man was conscious now.

“Why are you doing this for him, who is he to you?” mumbled the man calmly against the cloth covering her mouth, though he was tied to bed, though he had zero mobility he wanted to know why Jane was willing take such a risk for a criminal like Ace.

“He is my sworn brother that’s why! You won’t understand it, SIR!” mocked Jane, she had found a way to get away, she was going to knock out the man again and use the ventilation ducts to get out.

“I would, I definitely would! I know who you are, Fuerza D. Sana!” Jane stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widened, that was not known by anybody, not even Zoro, nobody. Only Shanks knew that she was a D.

“The fuck you said?” snarled Jane as she looked over her shoulder,

“I know who you are!”

“Then you must also know that what I would do you now!”

“But I am not like them!”

“Like hell you aren’t! I offered you a kill, you wanted to fuck me instead!”

“Like I said I fell in love with you!”

“Half of the Grand-line is in love with me! I can’t fuck them all now can I! _Teme!_ Where the hell you learn that from? Eh?”

“Ever since that stupid Spandam told me about you and Lucci, I wanted to see you, he provided such a great intel, you really were my subject of interest but he would never share details of intimacy, said he was not sure about his feelings for you.” spoke that man, still maintaining his composure,

“Shut your trap!” warned Jane gripping his throat.

“We had ordered him to kill you wanting to know if you could outsmart him or overpower him but in the end he could not just bring himself to kill you. He also had requested a permission of a marriage, like I was going to let him do that. Lucci was the best man at my disposal, I had let that idiot Spandam take over Lucci’s unit because I wanted to know if Kuzan speaks the truth, I even convinced Kuzan to entrust the buster call to Spandam. It was all worth it, I learned a lot about you and eventually about that straw hat group. But you turned Lucci into a total disaster, we can’t control him now, he was stubborn right from the start but he is simply incapable of following orders now.”

“Shut the fuck up! Just shut up!”

“You only wanted to know, I am just honoring your request darling!” said the man, Jane’s fist connected to his jaw the next second. 

“Honoring my ass!! You are so dead!”

“Sana…” whispered the man as if he was happy the way it rolled out from his mouth,

“How in the world you know that you bastard?” Jane yelled in anger,

“I told you I knew your old man, you were promised to me, but you managed to run away!”


	22. scourge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The inevitable distance, the WAR and scattering of everything.  
> War of the best happens, Ace dies and that affects everybody along with the Zoro and Jane's relationship.
> 
> End of the this part! Series though would continue further...

 

“Ever since that stupid Spandam told me about you and Lucci, I wanted to see you, he provided such a great intel, you really were my subject of interest but he would never share details of intimacy, said he was not sure about his feelings for you.” spoke that man, still maintaining his composure,

“Shut your trap!” warned Jane gripping his throat.

“We had ordered him to kill you wanting to know if you could outsmart him or overpower him but in the end he could not just bring himself to kill you. He also had requested a permission of a marriage, like I was going to let him do that. Lucci was the best man at my disposal, I had let that idiot Spandam take over Lucci’s unit because I wanted to know if Kuzan speaks the truth, I even convinced Kuzan to entrust the buster call to Spandam. It was all worth it, I learned a lot about you and eventually about that straw-hat group. But you, you turned Lucci into a total disaster, we can’t control him now, he was stubborn right from the start but he is simply incapable of following orders now.”

“Shut the fuck up! Just shut up!”

“You only wanted to know, I am just honoring your request dear!” said the man, Jane’s fist connected to his jaw the next second. 

“Honoring my ass!! You are so dead!”

“Sana…” whispered the man as if he was happy the way it rolled out from his mouth,

“How in the world you know that, you cheap bastard?” Jane yelled in anger,

“I told you I knew your old man, you were promised to me, but you managed to run away!”

“Like hell I did!”

“Fujioka Hisashi!”

Jane’s heart raced, her eardrums made it impossible to hear anything other than her own heartbeat, her fist loosened, grip on his throat got less painful. Jane was failing to keep her composure after hearing that name,

…………again after so many days, it still was unbearable to keep calm after hearing the name of a man she knew as her father, who tormented her for years.

“Oh yes, he is alive, in prison cell at the Ennies lobby, we caught him a few year’s back. Lucci brought him in, we never knew a scum like him could be so useful. We also tried to search for your mother, we still don’t know where she is. She did a magnificent job hiding you in a place where you could not have been found so easily but we found you out none the less.”

“Mother??” whispered Jane with wide eyes, she tried to remember face of her mother, but no use, she couldn’t picture her mom, all she could remember was the guy who used to beat the living hell out of her.

“Now that we have found you, we still couldn’t arrest you because of your politically powerful friend Shanks and of course, because of his lover, your extremely clever and cocky brother Mihawk . We lured you out with Lucci but we could not produce or find a single evidence connecting you to wicked mother or to your criminal father, nor we have DNA sample to match to her or any of your family members all thanks to your mad psychopath lover Lucci and his lot, you cannot be harmed as of now but you know World government won’t stop hunting down all the D’s. I wanted to kill you myself, but after getting to know and see you, I don’t quite have the will to have you killed after all. So, I can save you from everything that is yet to come due to that filthy D in your name, if you promise to become mine.”

Smirked the man looking into Jane’s eyes, she was not just shocked but sad. She was silent for a good few minutes, she just did not know how to process all that she heard,

“Try to calm down and think about yourself! You need to think about yourself now!”

“Jane, look, I promise to get you out of this all, just have a little faith!”

“It’s out of question!” was a shout and the man was shot in the shoulder, Jane turned and looked over her shoulder only to find two black hooded figures standing at the door,

“Who the hell are you?”

They didn’t answer but came walking through the door, Jane was so rattled that she only could stand and watch them work.

“Mr. Victor, you can take your proposal and shove it up your ass!” spat second one as he saw the man, Victor on the verge of losing the consciousness.

When the man in shackles closed his eyes, the guy unmasked his face, Jane narrowed her eyes finding it was Kaku who saved her after all.

“Jane! I am glad that we could make it in time, his brain would be scrambled egg for two hours when he wakes up, take this opportunity and can leave the way you came, for whatever you came in here; in the heart of the HQ. You should not have taken this big of a risk, Jane! Please go now!”

“Why?” whispered Jane in disbelief, wanting them to reveal the true reason they tried to help her or at least it seemed that they were helping her,

“Why you are trying to help me? Why are you pretending to help me?”

“It’s not a help, it’s a duty! Anyway, somebody opened my eyes, made me believe in something I could not have come up on my own, defeated me and made me listen to the truth, I promised myself that I would walk on the path of true justice instead of blindly following the ideals set by others! Would you give something to Sanji if you made it back to them alive?”

“I can’t say for sure!” deadpanned Jane,

Kaku took out a thumb derive out of his pocket and hold out his hand in Jane’s direction, though he was not looking at her, not meeting her gaze, Jane still wanted to avoid him, avoid talking to him.

“Please!!” requested Kaku,

“Don’t think for a second that I have even considered forgiving you traitors!” whispered Jane snatching the thing from Kaku’s hand, he closed eyes and smiled sadly,

“I can’t ask for that! Nobody is going to spot you for the next half hour, please hurry back to safety.” informed Kaku and turned to look away completely. Jane turned on her heels and walked away without saying a word.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ace was decided to be executed, to set an example World government had chosen to execute him publicly while the public execution had become a rare thing these days, it was the path they had opted to create a terror.

Jane’s team along with Whitebeard’s lot were doing all they can to plan a massive attack on the Marine headquarter with all the force they had at their disposal. Marines of world government were preparing for the war, they knew doing such a thing would anger the emperor, the Whitebeard, they knew they had it coming, the war. World government had decided to free the new world from the rule of all the emperors and create their own empire everywhere, unchallenged.

Jane was completely off the grid, not in contact with anybody in the city, nobody knew where she was, not even Shanks could track her down; he knew she could try to save her brother but Whitebeard wouldn’t help his enemy though they were personally very fond of each other. Whitebeard never wanted the world to know her true identity, he had secretly let her in on his plans and his force as Marco had vouched for her.

Every Warlord had been summoned up for the strategy meeting, Mihawk and Shanks knew about the upcoming war and its consequences but both had opted not to let Jane in on it. The SOFs and Marco had informed Jane about all these things long before it all went out of hand.

Jane was pissed off, angered beyond limits, she had decided not to share her plans with anybody anymore. She along with her team took off from the city only to go dark after she talked with Zoro on a call she made from Marine HQ.

Jane couldn’t get Sabo on line, everything was falling to pieces, she hadn’t even heard about Luffy and his team’s utter defeat and devastation at the Saobody archipegalo when they faced Kizaru and Kuma along with Pacifista. Luffy now was a wanted criminal, as he and his lot had attacked world government officials and nearly killed Lord Rosewod. Luffy and others did not know about Ace’s execution or Jane’s condition on the other hand. Everything was a mess and was getting messier as each day passed.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most people could never fathom this kind of hell hole would actually exist in the real world, the Impel Down, World Government’s most secured underwater sea prison.

He knew in his heart that he had made a mistake arguing with his old man and refusing his advice when he left the new world and went looking for Teach all by himself, ignoring the warnings of his fellow crewmates, even Marco; he had to fulfill his duty, he was second division commander and it was his responsibility to make Teach pay for all the wrong he did.

Marshal D. Teach, recently gained fame and the repute in the name of Blackbeard, was a dirty son of a bitch, he tricked marines and misused his power and influence to lead Ace to an ambush waiting for capturing Ace. Leaving under the shadow of a legend, nobody never knew how ambitious, powerful and influential Teach had become. Ace wanted him to pay back for he killed his own crewmate over few legal papers………………

.

.

His hands ached, hanged above his head, stretched on both sides, held in place by metallic chains, he had been in that sitting position since longer than he could remember. Ace’s head was down, eyes closed, regret written over his features,

He knew Garp had secretly been watching him, he knew Garp could not stand watching him like this,

“ _Jiji_ [Grandpa]!” whispered Ace, his breathing heavy, body aching of wounds all over it,

“I am impressed that you are still conscious with all those wounds!”

“Ace! Because of you, Navy HQ….nah! the entire World government is in uproar!” was Garp’s gruff voice and then he started laughing,

Ace gritted his teeth as his granddad,

“K..Kill me!!” demanded Ace, his words were barely heard, he appeared to be choking on his own words,

“Hmm?” Garp looked at Ace keenly, throwing him a glare,

Ace’s head moved, he looked up and narrowed his eyes on Garp,

“Just Kill me!” yelled Ace, Garp sat down in front of prison cell door, folding his legs,

“Kill you, you say? _Baka mono!_ Anything we do now would be pointless! Even of you died right now, it would not stop whitebeard. Nobody can stop this now! We have angered the king of sea!” yelled Garp making his point.

Ace looked away, tears of frustration made their way out of Ace’s enraged eyes, he gritted his teeth, cussed the situation millionth time,

“ _Oyaji!_ [Dad]” whispered Ace recalling ,

“I wanted you and Luffy to become great Marine officers! Never mind the great marines, you two ended up being notorious outlaws! I am sure you have heard what that brat did! In water Seven, he challenged the whole world government, defeated CP9, somehow invaded Enies lobby, he caused great ruckus at Sabaody Archipegalo, he attacked the Rosewood family, killed high ranking officers! That brat! I would expect nothing less from my grandson” said Garp and busted out in laughter again,

Ace’s lips twitched upwards at the thought of his brother,

“I also told Luffy about his father. He did not believe he had one!”

“Doesn’t matter! Whether we know about it or not, as annoying as it is, me, Luffy, Jane, we all carry the blood of World renowned Criminals. There is no way we could ever become marines, Jane at least managed to stay out of radar because of Mihawk and Shanks. She seems to be the best of us all.”

“ _Aah!_ [Hmm!]”

“Even though I own my mother debt of gratitude and I took the name “Portgas”….I can’t stand the thought that I carry the blood of that worthless father of mine. I don’t remember him at all, I don’t own him anything!”

“I get what you mean but he was just a..” Ace did not want to hear about Gol D. Roger, he knew Garp had a connection with him, Ace just cut Garp off as he continued,

“That’s why Gramps…..My old man is Whitebeard and no one else!” said Ace smirking, Garp threw him a glare.

What both of them did not know, Smoker was listening to the whole conversation, he had long since taken an interest in the Ace’s case. Smoker was looking for Jane, he knew nobody knew where she was, he knew she would definitely try to infiltrate their ranks.

Garp left after some more silent minutes he spent with imprisoned Ace………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The guard placed one more chain on Ace and locked the out door. Ace sighed , his head lowered again, he looked down staring some random spot in ground. All he could hear was the prison, his labored breathing, occasional yell of a prisoner, chain rattling and clinking of keys as guard passed by. The prison reeked of sea, salt, the cell smelled of metal and sand,

‘What do I do? Don’t come for me! Don’t fight, don’t go at war for me!’ pleaded Ace but it was no use,

“Portgas!” was a whisper, Ace shot his head up,

“Smoker?” Ace couldn’t believe it was him…….

“Smoker!! It’s you isn’t it?” whispered Ace back, he could see a shadow, Ace waited for something to happen, he could see shadow moving on to the camera, something was placed on the camera, then he came out in the light, brows furrowed, frown on lips, absent the cigars and his usual white-gray outfit Smoker looked different,

“What the hell you doing here?”

“Looking for Jane!” said Smoker scratching back of his head, his eyes narrowed on Ace’s face,

“What?? Don’t tell me she is..” whisper yelled Ace, panicked for safety of his kid sister,

“ _Aargh!_ That kid went dark days ago!!” came gruff reply as he opened the door, came inside to unlock the inner one,

“What you doing?” demanded Ace, Smoker chose to keep quiet and ignore Ace’s question,

“Oi!” whisper yelled Ace, Smoker was standing right in front of him. He crouched down, his face in front of Ace’s, Smoker looked into the deep dark black beady eyes, they sparkled even in that dark room,

“How the hell you got in this situation Portgas?” whispered Smoker sounding very unsmoker like,

“What?? What you care? Stay the hell back!” spat Ace with great confusion and surprise as he narrowed his eyes on older man, Smoker took something out,

“Here! This is going to help!” said Smoker and applied something on his wounds,

“Hey! Wait! What is that? Why are you doing this eh?”, he couldn’t understand the intensions of man seated in front of him,

Smoker moved his hand to chains those held Ace in place,

“D-Don’t! What the hell you doing old man!”

But he widened his eyes, he was simply in awe, Smoker unchained his arms, his wrist, his hands came down with weight of their own, Ace could not keep them in position he immediately lost balance even in his seating position, Smoker  grabbed his weak form and supported as he laid Ace down comfortably on his back,

“There!” said Smoker placing Ace on floor, he brushed away the raven locks away from his eyes,

“What you in for? Stop touching me dammit!” said Ace getting frustrated,

“I aint touching you, you brat! I am just helping you a bit! Don’t die before she comes in here! Gonna break her heart!”

“The hell!! Who is she to you?”

“Don’t know! I love that kid like my own! I wanted to catch you myself but not to behead you! Just teach you some manners and beat some sense into you! Why you had to go that far eh? Would you quit being criminal if I get you out?” asked Smoker looking at the smaller man,

“Where the fuck is this coming from?” yelled Ace getting totally pissed off, he tried to move but his wound opened up and started bleeding again,

“Cut it out, stubborn ass!” scolded Smoker and forced him rest down, he then injected Ace with something.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

His eyes opened after a while, he felt no ache in his body, he felt relaxed for a change,

‘What is going on? Why I feel different!’  his eyesight adjusted to the dark place, it was the same prison cell after all, the smell made him scrunch his nose, he blinked and finally focused enough to find out his head was rested in Smoker’s lap, Wait! What??

“Stay away from me!!” exclaimed Ace trying to move,

“Relax! You feel good now, don’t you?” smirked Smoker slightly, Ace was annoyed beyond limits. He shot up and grabbed Smoker’s jacket narrowing his eyes on older man’s face,

“Why you!!!……The hell is wrong with you ma..” Ace could not complete his sentence,

his dry lips crushed onto smooth ones, his face was smashed into Smoker’s by a powerful hand resting on back of his head, forcing him towards smoker. Ace’s eyes went wide, he couldn’t respond, hell….. he couldn’t believe what had happened,

Ace felt another hand on his back, he felt himself being held by the bigger man possessively, he did not move but felt Smoker’s lips moving on his, he couldn’t understand it but he couldn’t hate it either, he couldn’t just hate the thing, the fuck was going on…..??

‘What is happening to me? Why I feel like this! Why I can’t make him stop! Why is he kissing me, holding me like that! I thought I was straight!’ thought Ace, Smoker pulled out,

“I can’t let you die but can let you go either! What do I do Portgas?”

“Why?” asked Ace with disbelief, his eyes were still wide of the surprise, he still could not wrap his head around the fact that Smoker, smoker of all people actually kissed him, Ace was still held close to smoker, held like a lover, Ace did not struggle or showed any sign to get out of his grasp,

“I kept it in! Never worded it out, never even came anywhere near you, always prayed the God’s to keep you away from me! I know you can’t return my feelings! You are straight, I thought I was too but I can’t help it now! I can’t see you die!”

“When? Since when you…” whisper asked Ace totally rattled,  

“Since we had a duel, since Alabasta! I simply can’t forget you!”

“You are insane! I wanted you to die there!” said Ace,

“I know, I wanted to grab you and never leave! Cheesy eh??”

“Old man, you are insane as hell and ugly as mule!!”

“And you are beauty…., I don’t know what to call it, you are just a guy that made me mad about you!”

“Fuck is wrong with you old man! We are enemies!!” Ace gritted his teeth and leaned in to touch Smoker’s lips, now was Smoker’s turn to get surprise, Ace experimentally moved his lips on his and Smoker charged in taking his Ace’s lips in his own as he enjoyed the feeling.

They moved, smoker straddling the raven man, his hands on Ace’s shoulders, his lips liked with Ace’s, he could not help but connect their bodies, his hand went to Ace’s buttocks, he grind Ace’s groin on his, growling as he rubbed their bodies on each other,

“Hah!! Hah! Smo..smokey…! What the hell you are …doing to me……..Hah!” whispered Ace moaning,

Smoker kissed Ace till both were out of breath, Ace did not know why he allowed such a thing and smoker did not want to think about right or wrong at this moment.

“Don’t fucking Die!” whispered Smoker kissing on Ace’s temple, tears made their way out from Ace’s eyes,

“Why?? Why now?? Leave me alone! Go away! Aaah!” moaned Ace when Smoker bit on his neck.

“You know how fucking helpless you sound, like a girl! You ain’t gonna cry now, are ya girly?”

“Shut the hell up!!”

Smoker helped him up, Ace batted his hand away,

“There would be a battle for sure, A war the world hasn’t seen anything like, but I know Jane, she is gonna move the heaven and hell to save you. I know I have to try to stop the dammed kid at any cost. You kids are going to murder this old man!”

“What of My old man? What of the Red head, can’t he stop Jane from doing anything stupid!”

“It’s too late for any of that! Nobody knows where she is! Not even the Red head! Nor Mihawk!”

Ace sighed and closed his eyes….

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The public execution was just a show-off, World government wanted their power in the new world. Four emperors had made it impossible for the World government to take decision on their own in half of the world where it was their own territory. They had found an easy way to stir the peace between the four emperors.

Shanks tried to avoid the disaster by politically maneuvering the things, Mihawk never said a word, he acted as if he was not bothered by any of it, even not with the disappearance of Jane. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WAR HAPPENED!!

War of the bests, they called it, nobody had imagined things would go this bad……….many lost lives, many families were destroyed, Marin HQ was wrek, whole world was in uproar…………………

.

.

.

.

.

.

When Zoro heard the news of the war, it was already too late……………..

.

.

He was found on the is-land which Mihawk owned, so he at least had a hope to reach to Jane.

.

.

.

Zoro finally made it to the Red Army’s HQ, he did not know what was to come, he just wanted to see her once, wanted to make sure she was okay, wanted to tell Jane what all happened, wanted to apologies for he couldn’t save all his friends from disappearing from Sabaody Archipegalo …

Mihawk had managed to sneak him in the place, so that Shanks could track him down and take him to Jane to meet her, to end the suffering of the distance between them but…

“Roronoa Zoro, welcome! Please follow me! _Akagami_ would see you now!” said a blonde guy that came in and asked Zoro to follow him.

The facility was bigger than Hawkeye tower, it was bigger than anything Zoro has ever seen,  it was covered with forests and range of big mountains. Zoro was taken through secret passage ways and some doors with various locks on it, finally he was told to go inside a room,

“Please go through there! Have a nice time!” said the blondie and went away,

He sighed and unlocked the door to go in, he found a big hall and there were war time photos hanging off walls, many of them had Jane and few had Shanks himself, he saw various weapons put on to display like they were rare piece of Jewelry or some ancient artifact, he found swords held in stand, few of them he recognized as famous ozozimonos just by looking at them. The place was very nice and had a homely feel, had very nice and elegant furniture!

“Zoro!”

“Akagami! Thanks for everything, is Jane okay?”

Shanks smiled a little,

“You should see for yourself! Come!” nodded Shanks and started walking,

“Shanks, tell me, what’s wrong?”

“This is very difficult time for her kid, I don’t know what to tell you but this that she is going through a bad patch and she is not her usual self!”

“But she is unharmed, right?”

“In a way yes! She mostly sleeps, as we keep her sedated!”

“Sedated, she is not some an…”

“She would be unconscious when we reach her room. Please, let us just go and see her okay?”

“Yeah!” Zoro was disturbed but he had to keep faith in Shanks, the redhead was person Jane trusted and loved the most, Zoro knew  Akagami would do whatever it takes to keep Jane safe and sound,

But Sedated? That got Zoro thinking……..

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane was different since she woke up, she was quieter, she just kept calm, did not speak, did not talk back when talked to, she would not change her sad demeanor, she would just stare at some spot and keep staring at it till she is disturbed. Shanks would feed her, only he could make her talk only if a little. She would go mad and violent when anybody so much as mentioned little something related to war, Ace or if she overheard anything related to the war of the best, she would beat the shit about them,       

Zoro was shocked seen her getting violent like that, her rage was simply overpowering her every other emotion and she herself was overpowering everybody even in that injured state, she had just started recovering but she would run to forest to train her body, she would induce more pain to make her body endure it,

Zoro just couldn’t condone the thing, Shanks had been dealing with it for a while now, when they made it to the forest, they saw many people on ground, some clutching their stomachs, some grunting in pain in their limbs, some with injured hand, few knocked out cold, few panting due to over exertion,

“Sir, she is uncontrollable!” whispered a man holding his sprained hand, Shanks sighed and took out his cell phone to make a call,

Zoro ran ahead to find Jane enraged, she hit a guy on back of his head and knocked him out and other who was trying to inject her with something, she gave a growl and kicked his hand, the syringe got thrown away, he took out a dart gun but she punched him in face and took the dart gun and darted two of the others who were running to catch her, she cussed the man she had been beating to pulp and gave him an angry face,

Jane had her hand on his throat,

“Oi! Jane, the hell dude! Let him go!” said Zoro, Jane did not even react to his voice,

“Je! Babe stop it, he is gonna die!!” said Zoro as he got nearer to her, he pulled on her hand as she saw the guy rolling his eyes at back of his head,

“Stop it Je!” yelled Zoro, he was surprised at her wild behavior, Jane just stared at the guy angrily, gritted her teeth,

“Je! Snap out of it, damn it!” said Zoro tugging on her hand, she hissed and kicked Zoro in the stomach and choked the guy for some more and when he lost consciousness, she let him drop on the ground,

“Goddamned it!!” Zoro could not believe he just got kicked that hard in the guts by his lover, Jane’s kick was more powerful than he had anticipated, it was like she hit him with all the force she could use, before Zoro could get up and grab her, she ran further into the forest with speed that Zoro has never seen Jane using before,

‘Jane! Shit! She didn’t even spare me a glance? Did she not recognize me? What the hell do I do?’ thought Zoro,

He got up dusting his clothes, Shanks and other people had made it over to the place by the time this all happened, people were being taken to the infirmary. Shanks sighed tiredly when he found out her foot prints running down into the thick forest. The whole unit of SOF’s with total military gear wrapped onto their bodies appeared before Shanks within next five minutes,

“What the hell is this? She is just not in her right mind, why you need this kind of weapons for?” asked Zoro in low but angry voice, his eyes were narrowed on Shanks,

“Zoro, it’s not for her, I love her too you know, it’s for what’s out there in the forest besides us. She knows the place far too well for us to find her that easily. It’s third time she has done it!”

“Could not you take precautions then? Seal the area or something?” suggested Zoro, sounding resented by the fact that he could not do anything to make her stop,

“You think that’s gonna contain her? You saw her right? She is so fired up!!” exclaimed a man, a buffalo vehicle came and they all got in as they headed to the forest,

Shanks and Zoro were left alone as all others started searching for Jane,

Zoro was about to take a weapon when Shanks started speaking,

“This is what I was about to tell you, it’s good that you witnessed it with your own eyes, it’s all been difficult for her. Ace’s death, the war, Luffy’s near death injuries, she needs time to digest the thing, I don’t know if I would have been able to explain it to you the way it actually is, it’s good that you have seen it with your own eyes!” said Shanks calmly, he sounded sad and worried,

“So, she is like this since..” Zoro asked,

“Since she regained her consciousness! We kept her sedated, she was suicidal at the start but I was able to snap her out of that”

“Suicidal how?”

“She tried to cut herself, drown herself, she can be really stubborn when she wants to be!”

“Tell me about it!”

“Zoro, I think you should not see her now! Wait it out for some more days! I know you really must have missed her a lot..”

“I can’t! I can’t wait. It’s already been forever since I talked to her, and that was crazy! She is suffering! How can I just wait it out Boss??”

“Right, I am asking a lot!” replied Shanks and sighed,

“You are!! So, how did you stop her?”

“Made her realize….that lot of people are waiting for back home, you , Mihawk, Luffy..”

“Luffy! I could not get in touch with anybody, I don’t know where are all my people. I heard Law took Luffy away to safety?”

“Hmm, he is with Law, safe at least!”

Zoro and Shanks heard people yell Jane’s name, they shared a worried look and jumped out of the vehicle to see what was going on, a guy came and gave Shanks a report, Shanks nodded to him, then turn to gesture something to another guy in the mask, he nodded and took some of his men and disappeared walking away from where they came, Shanks sighed and walked further, Zoro followed him, after some walking Shanks gestured Zoro to stop.

Shanks looked around, he fixed his eyes on something, Zoro looked closely when he found  a man in the woods who was nearly concealed in forest, he signaled something to Shanks, Shanks nodded and started walking in different direction, they all moved down the valley and stopped suddenly to spot Jane surrounded by some weird creatures, rather weird people. They could see Jane down in the shallow valley right in the middle of those strange looking creatures, mysterious people with wooden masks, strange robes. Many had swords in their hands, some were standing in the trees, they had arrows pointed in direction of the army.

“What the hell is that?” yelled Zoro,

 “Uncontacted tribe! They don’t understand any language of ours! They won’t allow anybody escape their grasp!” replied a man,

“Are you going to shoot them then?” asked Zoro raising his brow,

“No, just dart, if necessary!” whispered another soldier,

“Yeah! They are a force to be reckoned with, they are spread out in the jungle far too well, we can’t outnumber them, cant outsmart them! We have to be careful while dealing with them!” replied another,

“Shit! Jane why?” whispered Zoro and moved forward with great caution,

“Hey! You wanna die? Come back!” whisper yelled the soldier, who was near Zoro before he moved in Jane’s direction,

Shanks had long since gone forward to save his daughter from those savages, Shanks and Zoro were nowhere to be found, they went hidden in trees as they stealthily moved towards Jane,

The team that had gone away before, had their snipers pointed at various guys, some people who disappeared from site had their guns pointed at the tribal people.

Jane was furious, she shouted at them, they shouted back something, she grunted and jumped on one of them to knock him out and the fight started,

“Shit!!” muttered many of the men, Shanks emerged out from the trees, stood straight and yelled to order his people not to move or shoot any of their weapons,

“Stand down all of you!” yelled Shanks,

“But Marshall!” yelled many of them, Shanks had seen many of tribal people with arrow pointed to each and every one of his men, he did not want another war here, he was worried about her,

“Jane!” yelled Shanks getting angry at her situation, they made some noise and showed Shanks their angry faces and pointed their weapons at him, he showed his empty hands to them as if to say he did not mean any harm. He narrowed his eyes on them, a middle aged man with big mustache and beard came forward as if to warn Shanks to stay back,

“I need my daughter!” said Shanks sincerely raising an eyebrow, bowing a little, Jane had knocked many of them down but she had received many bruises and cuts,

“I need to take her back!” said Shanks again in louder and firmer voice and moved forward with his hands still up, the man growled as if to warn him but Shanks did not stop.

“Shit! Je, hang on baby! I am coming!” whispered Zoro as he hurried to her,

Half of people surrounded the furious Jane had now lost their consciousness and in turn Jane had lost much of her energy and blood, her adrenaline had seemed to be wearing off, she appeared exhausted now, she gritted her teeth and kicked a man in face but he avoided the blow, instead of face he was hit on his hand which had a sword, the sword flew back to hit their leader, the weapon penetrated his stomach and he went down spilling blood. The tribal people went mad watching their leader fall; they made some noise as if to announce the war.

“Fuck!!” cursed Zoro and started running never minding the stealth,

An arrow rushed speeding in Jane’s direction, her heart was the target, Zoro saw it and jumped forward, it was very out of reach, Zoro took out his sword and threw it in the path of the Arrow, the arrow was stopped but second followed the suit. Jane was bleeding from various wounds she had already received, she still showed no sign of pain, but anger was written all over her features, she was still cussing as if her throat was not about to be sliced up by the man standing right in front of her.

With the surprise, man looked up only to find a SOF jumping down a tree…….

somebody jumped from the tree on the man who had a sword on Jane’s throat, he left Jane and pointed sword to hit him, Jane kicked the man to move away from her but she gave gasp when she was contained protectively in arms of a man.  Something pointy touched her shoulder, she blinked her eyes at Mark, she was snapped back into reality by this man, blood started oozing out of his chest. He would not let Jane go, Zoro had now made it to her, he saw a SOF guy, covering Jane and apparently Mark had taken two arrows for Jane,

Mark collapsed on ground three seconds later, taking Jane down along with him,

Shanks was been held back by people all this time but finally he snapped, he gave an angry growl and made a threatening face. Something happened, Shanks started fighting and knocking down all the men, he took down 20 men in a go, they all just stopped moving looking at his unstoppable form, they looked at him with fright in their eyes, his expression were terribly angry, everybody scooted away from him, some dropped unconscious, he wore an expressions that scared the shit out of every man present there, even his own people,

“Mark!!!!” yelled Jane, Jane went down along with his form, he still had her in tight embrace,

“Don’t be stupid Jane, you are more important!” whispered Mark,

“Mark! No!!” yelled Jane, her eyes watered, Mark would not budge, his grip on Jane loosened, he smiled slightly before he lost his mind to unconsciousness,

it shoved Jane back into the past, it reminded her of Ace’s death, 

“No!! Don’t die!! D…..Don’t Die!!” whispered Jane, red watery eyes, wide with terror, her hands held her friend, his blood wetted her chest, her clothes,

“Don’t! Don’t die on me Ace!!!” Gave Jane a painful cry, closing her eyes, her head up, facing at the sky as she yelled,

That cry was filled with pain, pain made even the tribal people feel bad for her, she was bleeding of the battle wounds and she was not even recovered from the injuries she received at the war but she was crying of pain that was caused by Ace’s death.

“Aaaaceee!!” yelled Jane crying out loud,

“Jane! Calm down!” reprimanded Shanks, he made her look at him by cupping her face,

“Shanks! I failed him!! Ace! I let him die!” cried Jane with fight in her eyes,

“Shhh! Stop crying! Stop it!!” scolded Shanks closing his eyes in frustration,

“Acceee!” bawled Jane again,

Shanks made her leave the injured and unconscious Mark there on the ground,

“Ace!! No!!! Aaaceeee!!” Jane’s hand were not ready to leave Mark, her traumatized mind had thought that it was Ace lying on ground near death and not Mark,

Shanks injected Jane with a sedative, it started making her go fuzzy,

“Ace, Aaaaaaaceeeee!!!!!” shouted Jane,  she struggled to keep her eyes open, finally she lost her balance, Shanks who had been supporting her weak frame picked her up,

“Round up you lot!!” ordered Shanks to his people…………………..

Mark was taken to the infirmary; all others moved away from their positions to go away from the territory of the tribal people, Shanks picked Jane up off her feet to take her back home.

Her eyeballs were moving directionless, they would try to focus and then they would wander, Jane was babbling incoherently, Shanks ignored her as he put her into the ambulance. Shanks sat near her, Zoro followed, Jane was not asleep but was not awake either but water wouldn’t stop coming out of her red puffy eyes.

Frustrated and sad, Zoro hid his face in his hands looking at his lover in pain, he felt helpless, yet again, after witnessing her in a panic attack it was his only third time to feel helpless like that. He saw doctors were fixing her bleeding wounds, Shanks never said anything to anybody, they all acted on their own.      

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Jane!!” whispered Shanks, to wake her up,

“Get up baby!” said Shanks stroking her cheek lovingly,

Jane blinked her eyes at him, she focused on his face, her face showed agony, hard to tell exactly of what; of her wounds, of her emotional stress, of her pained heart,

She just stared at him, with blank face, vacant blue eyes……..

“You hungry? You have been asleep for more than 18 hours and you are off meds now! You should feel hungry!” whispered Shanks,

Jane did not utter a word, she just looked at his warm brown eyes, he made her sit up as he changed the position of her hospital bed a little,

“Let’s get you comfy! There!” said Shanks taking Jane in a lovely hug, as the bed was moved a little, she had not even noticed Zoro’s presence in the room, Shanks rested Jane on the bed again, now in a sitting position,

“You need water? Here, drink some!” whispered Shanks and bring the straw near her lips; Jane had some water and left the thing from her lips,

“I see! You still don’t want to talk to me? I apologized, dint I? I knew that it’s been difficult. Baby, there are some things you just can’t just change. I too didn’t want what happened; I even went to the enemy to share my thoughts but..”

Jane did not speak, did not change her expressions, Shanks sighed,

“You think I let it all happen? Baby, Ace wouldn’t not have wanted you to mourn like this??”

Listening his name, Jane snapped again, her eyes changed, she gritted teeth, moved so as to get off the bed,

“No! Stop it baby! Listen to me!”

Jane made a growling noise at back of her throat,

“Enough now! Stop it!! You have to accept it!!” whispered Shanks looking frustrated. He grabbed her shoulders, made her relax back into the bed, her eyes were distant as if she was in some other world. Shanks’ words were nor reaching her anymore,

“Jane! Look at me! You have to accept that Ace is dead! And you cannot do anything about it!” Jane pushed Shanks back with greater force, her nostrils dilating, her breathing heavy and forced, Shanks growled and used even greater force to hold her in place,

“Jane, Zoro needs you! He is here!” said Shanks and something happened as she heard his name, Shanks was thrown off balance as he was jerked forward suddenly as Jane went limp, he was trying to get her calm, he was trying to make her react to Zoro’s name and he succeeded,

“Zoro needs you, look, he is here for you!! Zoro is been waiting for you for long time baby!” said Shanks in her ear, Jane blinked violently,

“Jane, accept it, accept the fact that Ace is no more!” whispered Shanks sadly,

Jane’s eyes watered now, tears started raining down her cheeks. Shanks took her in hug, she tried to grip his shirt; he caressed her head, she sniffled, sobbed like a kid, soon her face went red from crying, her eyes became puffy, he planted a kiss on her head, held her close, let her cry for half hour till she finally spoke up,

“ _Oyaji_ , [sniffled Jane] why people I love [sniffle] keep on dying! He is not dead, he can’t be! I know he….[sobbed Jane] Ace is not dead!”

“Accept it baby, like you have accepted many things, things that should not have the way are now. Accept that Ace is dead, like you have accepted that you have no mother; that you have to live with scars on your back, that Lucci was never meant to love you, that he betrayed your trust and left you, hung out to dry, like you have accepted that I am a homosexual, accept this thing too! Yet another reality you have to face, like you face every other! You have endured a lot my child, you have been very strong, I am proud of you and I love you! I am there for you!! Calm down now!! Stop crying sweetheart!”

“No! Ace is..”

“Jane, the sooner you accept is the better! People need you baby, what gone is gone, what about those who remained? What about who those were left behind, those who risked their lives for you? Those who care about you? Zoro, Luffy, law, Vivi, Mark, Rick, John, Jason, Tashigi, all your friends, me, we need you! Stop acting like this honey, please I can’t see you in pain!”

“I am sorry Dad!”

“hush!! Calm down…”

“I have to get stronger! I am nowhere near good! Dad, please I do something, make me stronger!”

“We will talk about it later! You need some rest now,  heal your wounds properly. Talk to Zoro, spend some time with him. That kid is been up all this time, he looked so worked up, you got him worried!”

“Hmm!” replied Jane and nodded,

“That’s like my girl!!” said Shanks and kissed her forehead,

“Where is he?” asked Jane as Shanks pulled out,

“Oh! He just fell asleep a few minutes ago, I guess, just before I came in! Look!” said Shanks and gestured her to turn her head, she saw Zoro and got sentimental again, she seemed about to cry again,

“Hey! You are okay now, no more tears!! I will go and get you something to eat! You stay here, don’t leave okay?”

“Okay!” nodded Jane, Shanks looked at her worried, he caressed her face for some more minutes with worried eyes,

“I won’t go anywhere I promise, I am strapped to bed anyway.”

Shanks still won’t leave,

“I am sorry old man, I gave you lot of trouble, didn’t I?” said Jane with apologetic voice,

“You did, I couldn’t get you eat at all! Look how thin you have grown!”

“Dad! Just get me something to eat, will you?” whispered Jane smiling tiredly, Shanks smiled back and stood up ready to leave after giving her a kiss on her forehead,

“I will be back in a flash!” said Shanks, Jane nodded and he walked away,

After Shanks disappeared from site, shutting the door behind him, Jane turned her head to look at Zoro,

“How long you are going to pretend to be asleep!” whispered Jane, Zoro’s eyes flew open,

“You knew?” asked Zoro getting up from the sofa,

“Um-hmm!” said Jane, she saw him walking in her direction,

“Nobody has ever caught me like this! They think that I can sleep through anything!” said Zoro smiling slightly at his lover grabbing a seat near her, he now sat on the very place Shanks was in just a minute ago,

“I can tell!” said Jane in low voice avoiding his gaze as he sat closer, he leaned in and put his head on her chest,

“Indeed!” said Zoro encircling arms around her, he sighed in contentment, he could hear her heartbeat, it was very unsteady and flickering, her hands were strapped to the bed, her fingers curled into fist in uneasiness,

“Hey! Clam down! Relax please! Steady your Breath!!” whispered Zoro, Jane gave out the long held breath, she couldn’t move much so Zoro didn’t mind her not hugging him back, he relaxed on her form for some more, then nuzzled up against her. That warmth made her feel close her eyes and get lost in him forever. She wanted to hug him back, wanted to tell him to take her away from all the world, she just wanted to be in his arms.

Zoro’s presence was like a drug to her, sound of his name was a music, his deep baritone voice was perfectly tuned with her heartbeat, his eyes would wash her in wave of love the moment they fix on her form, she couldn’t think about anything else, she only could recall the moments they spent together in each other’s arms; his scent, his hands on her skin, his feel against her body, the way those green short cropped hair tickled her skin, she could only get sucked into that feel, like gravity would shift and draw her to him regardless of her situation, the force that would bind her to him unconditionally, she fought back an urge to put her chin on his head that was on her bosom.

‘I can’t afford to get lost like this! I can’t let myself get drowned in this! It’s like I am falling into the ocean! No matter how long I swim, I can’t find the end neither the satisfaction! It would never be enough! Zoro…what do I do with you!’ Jane felt her throat go dry at the thought, she felt his arms tightening grip around her form,

“You got me worried there!!”

“Sorry!” whispered Jane,

“No! I can understand your pain you are going through. Don’t be sorry. I can’t contact anybody Je, I don’t know where they are, Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Franky, Robin, Brook. Everybody disappeared and just like that we were reduced to nothing, I could find my way back to you because of Mihawk and Shanks, I would have gotten mad! Seriously baby! It’s impossible to be without you!” whispered Zoro and sighed tiredly,

“I love you!” whispered Jane in weak voice,

“I love you more!” replied Zoro back,

They said that Zoro was not man of words or expressions, at first Jane was shocked to hear various bad opinions of people had about Zoro, she then had started noting his behavior toward others, she found it true when people said he is loner and cocky son of bitch who would only do as he pleased.  But with Jane he was different, she knew what his words meant, what that cocky demeanor and the feral grin meant, he would talk to everybody with devious smirk and scowl, but with her, his lips would form a smile, she had seen him without that demonic scowl of his. He usually behaved like he never gave a dam about anything, but Jane’s smallest tiniest sigh would made him go mad with worry.

When people looked at Zoro, all they could ever see was five feet eleven inches of brawny scared body, tanned arms, rippling abs, a man who lacked expressions; but Jane, she knew all his expressions……..she knew how he laughed at her jokes, how he looked when he would flash an awkward smile at her when he would lose balance while dancing and Jane would balance him off, he used to make funny face when he made music with her, how his flushed face looked like when she got a little dominating while they shared an intimate moment, how red his face would become when he claimed he loved her, how sexy he looked when slid inside her, how his eyes would show his love when he made love to her……

Zoro pulled out from the hug and looked at her face, she looked deep in the thoughts,

“Hey! It’s been a while since we saw each other!” said the green head to grab her attention, Zoro’s hand moved to her face, he brushed his knuckles on her jawline like he liked to do, he brushed away few stray golden strands of her face,

“Je! Say something!”

Her expressions were blank, she did not smile back at him, he looked at her injuries, bandages on her arms, her legs, small one on her forehead, on her chin, some of her bandages were red, some purple bruises were visible on her skin, some were hidden under her clothes, 

“Je! You are hurt quite a lot!” asked Zoro feeling helpless, giving her worried eyes,

“I am sorry!” whispered Jane sadly, Zoro looked up at her face and spotted Jane looking down with guilt and regret on her face, Zoro leaned in again, cupped her face with his hand, she looked into his eyes and started shedding silent tears of pain, his other hand was near her head, palm rested on bed, he wiped her tears with his fingers, he moved closer and connected their bodies,

“Don’t say that! Baby, I missed you so much!”  whispered Zoro and tilted his head to imprison her lips with his in a hungry kiss, the touch made him intense, he gripped the bed sheet in his hand, his hand went to the back of her head, he could not help but push Jane in his face, smashing her lips in his, he was waiting for this for a long time. Zoro was worried since the day she called him from Marine HQ, few days before the War and went dark, he hadn’t heard from her ever since that time.

But Jane, she held her fist painfully tight, to keep herself from getting drowned in the kiss, she could not kiss back, her brows furrowed in worry, she didn’t respond, she just couldn’t, her heart burdened with grief, Zoro waited but Jane just was sat unmoving…

Zoro withdrew back from her lips and looked at her sad face, Jane gave a shudder,

“What is it?” Zoro asked worried, Jane looked like she wasn’t sure herself,

“Jane! Baby, what’s wrong?” asked Zoro making her look at him,

“I don’t know Zoro, I can’t, I just don’t kn..”

“Hey! That’s okay! I am sorry, I could not control myself, I just…. ..I thought you were..”

“No baby, I am sorry, I think I just need some time!” whispered Jane in weak voice,

“Sure! Don’t worry about it!” replied Zoro kissing on her forehead,

Shanks came in without a knock and few doctors on his tail and some [cafeteria](https://www.google.co.in/search?rlz=1C1GNAM_en-GBIN686IN686&biw=1366&bih=667&q=define+cafeteria&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6y-W2t6TMAhUNkI4KHXvABpEQ_SoIHjAA) guys which had a trolley of  delicious food with him………….

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In next two days, Jane recovered from her emotional stressed state but she was not her previous self anymore, something was off, she was uncomfortable around people, she avoided everybody including Shanks,

Zoro had noticed her reluctance but chose to ignore, they hadn’t even shared a hug in two days Zoro spent there in her room, she was acting like she did before they got together, keeping her distance from him, talking as less as possible, eating only when Shanks insisted,

He could not stand the thing, the distance between them, he wanted to take her in his arms, comfort her, kiss her pain away but Jane would not let him come close. Zoro was disturbed at her behavior but he did not share this with anybody, not even with Jane, he wanted to give her space. Shanks had noticed it and decided to talk to Jane about it.

\-------------------------------------

Jane was seated on branch of a tree, very high above the ground, she kept looking into forest somewhere; her face blank, eyes sad, she looked deep in the thoughts.

She wore Shanks’ white shirt and her shorts. She did not care if anybody saw he scars anymore; sometimes she did not seem to care about anything, sometimes she would go extra cautious and worried about every little thing,

“Jane??” Shanks called out for her, she looked at him,

“Come down here!” asked Shanks,

Jane came jumping down the branches like it was too usual for her, she looked at Shanks with blank eyes,

“You know why I called you down here for?” asked Shanks ruffling her hair, she gently shook her head,

“Jane, what is going on between you two?” was Shanks’ worried question, Jane turned her head a little to find Zoro seated near a tree, his back leaned against the trunk, his eyes close, hands behind his head, his swords laying on grass near him, he looked asleep but was not, she could tell because she had seen him staring at her a moment ago.

“Nothing is going on!” whispered Jane in cold voice,

“You are going to lie to me now?” responded Shanks with question,

“No. Really, there is nothing going on! We did not fight or something. It’s just that I am keeping my distance for now!”

“Jane, he is your boyfriend, there should not be any distance at all!”

“I can’t let him be too close!”

“What is wrong in that now?”

“No! it’s me, not him. I get lost in him very easily! It’s actually my fault but Ace paid for it, so did Luffy! They needed me, I wasn’t there! Even when I was, it wasn’t sufficient! I could have lost both of them if not for some sheer dumb luck”

“I can’t disagree more!”

“You don’t get it dad! I am no…”

“Jane, you don’t need to tell me how things work around here, I have been alive for more years than you. What you are doing now will make both of you pay, he is in pain, you are in pain! What’s the point?”

“I will release him from the pain then! He must be freed if that’s what it takes!”

“No! I don’t buy it. Why are you behaving like this?”

“Shanks, like way you are better off single, similarly I am better off alone!”

“Don’t talk like you know everything!”

“We are meant to be like this pops, we are good like this, I am going to stay here, with you! Make peace with that!”

“I am happy that you are staying, he stays too!”

“No, he has things to take care of back in the grand-line! He has to go!”

“Don’t make decisions for people!

“Dad! You can’t just……..”

“You will talk to him, sort things out! Don’t keep him waiting like this. He loves you and it’s difficult to find a lover like that! Jane don’t be so stubborn! And you will definitely do as I say!” ordered Shanks, Jane sighed and looked at him with sad puppy eyes,

“That’s not going to work this time! Be fair Jane, you have to be fair with Zoro! You have to listen to me this time!!”

“Okay!” agreed Jane and Shanks left after patting her head, she narrowed her eyes on Zoro for a moment and then walked away….

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane was removing her bandages when Zoro got inside the room, he had brought coffee for them, looking at Jane working on her own wounds he hurried to her,

“Hey! Let me do that!”  scolded Zoro with scowl on his face, he avoided her gaze sternly and started gently unwrapping the older bandages to remove them, his face was serene but his hands were gentle while he worked, she was looking at him keenly,

“Zoro! We need to talk!”

“Whatever you say!” was his reply, Zoro still did not look at her, he discarded the wrappings in trash can, took out a new medic kit, sterilized his hands, 

“Zoro!” whispered Jane wanting to grab his attention,

“Have coffee first! And I will do the bandages!” ordered the greenhead, he turned to take the supplies out from the drawer,

“Come, let us both have coffee first!” said Jane and grabbed his hand, he gently  took her hand off his arm, went to wash his hands and returned to find her looking right back at him, she gestured him to come over,

Zoro went and sat near her, she handed him his mug. After Zoro got settled near her, Jane put her head on his shoulder, Zoro took a long breath in, he wanted to wrap his arm around her waist but he restrained himself, he looked down at his mug, Jane turned her head to look at him,

“Zoro!” whispered Jane,

“Hmmm?” whispered Zoro back, without looking at her,

“You know what I am about to say don’t you?” asked Jane making worried face,

“No Jane! I don’t know anything anymore!”

“You can hold me! Here!” said Jane and took his hand in her but Zoro gently pulled it away,

“I know what I can do and what I can’t! Thing is, Je, I don’t know what you want me to do!” Zoro was distressed from the distance between them, it was making him indignant,

“Zoro! I am sorry!” whispered Jane changing her position so as to face his form.

“I think, I have been hearing that a lot from you lately!” said Zoro and snorted bitterly as he shook his head,

“I know, I am being an ass again! Do you think I am willingly keeping away from you??” asked Jane warily,

“You tell me Je!!” replied Zoro back with questions in his eyes as he looked at her, she couldn’t keep up, she looked away,

“Zoro, I just don’t know what to do! I feel so lost! I want to be alone!”  whispered Jane sighing,

“Okay! I will come back later, I will ask Shanks to patch you up!” said Zoro, left his coffee mug on the table and hopped off the bed,

“No Zoro, I want to be alone for a while!” finally Jane said it,

“I will come back tomorrow then!”

“No!”

“What you want to say?” Zoro asked confused at her statement,

“I need to do something, something that I can’t do when I am around you!” said Jane closing her eyes, Zoro turned back to look at her, but she already had started shutting him off again,

“I don’t understand! Whatever it is, I will help you, we can do it together, I am there for you no matter what is the problem…” Zoro tried to make his point, whatever she was up to he didn’t want her to do it alone, he wanted to be with her no matter how she was behaving,

“No Zoro, I can’t just concentrate on anything else when I am around you. I have to be alone.” Pushed Jane further,

“Jane?” scolded Zoro as he thought Jane was just trying to get him angry,

“I was so lost in you, so involved in us, I couldn’t sense Shanks’ pain, couldn’t see Mihawk’s behavior, their separation, Ace’s condition, his disappearance, I couldn’t see it coming; I let Ace die right before my eyes, I couldn’t do shit. I let Luffy get injured, I couldn’t save him from getting hurt badly he almost died. He was near death when Law picked him up. Mark is on his deathbed, Rick is all messed up, I lost one of my best man, And it’s all on me!”

Zoro could not believe he could hear something like this ever, not from Jane, he did not know how to react, he was angry, he was sad, he was so pissed he felt his brain would explode from his anger,

“So, you want me to go away?” Zoro closed his eyes in annoyance,

“Zoro, I know it sounds bad but look at it with my perspect..” said Jane warily but Zoro cut her off,

“You are saying you don’t want to be with me anymore?” asked Zoro, his scowl deepened further,

“All I am saying is that I need some time alone!” was Jane’s reply.

“…” Zoro did not reply to her, he did not leave, he did not turn back to look at her,

“I am sorry!” whispered Jane her mind going heavy with guilt,

“How many days?”

“I don’t know! I have to get stronger, what I am now, It’s not sufficient!”

“How many days you want? You need some space, I understand but this doesn’t mean you are breaking up with me do you?”

“I don’t know! I may not be able to keep in touch! And I can’t ask you to wait for me indefinitely!”

“Indefinitely? What is going in your head Je?”

“I want to be stronger! I can’t have this happened again! I don’t want to lose anybody because of my incapability and lack of strength ever again! I need to do what it takes to get stronger, even if I have to be alone for 10 years!”

“Do you want to come back to being with me? Do you want me to wait for you?”

“I don’t know!”

“Do you want me to wait?” Jane just refused to reply, she refused to look at him,

“Jane, talk to me!”

“I am sorry!”

“I don’t want to hear that!”

“Okay! Zoro, don’t wait for me! Don’t wait, I can’t promise you anything as of now!”

Zoro walked away never looking back at her………..

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> love and thanks to those left comments and Kudos....<3  
> this really is my first One Piece Fic! thanks for support guys!


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